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THE  CENTURY  AND 
THE  SCHOOL 


•n^^^ 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK    -BOSTON    -CHICAGO 

DALLAS    ■  SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON    •  BOMBAY    •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE    MACMILLAN    CO.    OF    CANADA,    Ltd. 

TORONTO 


-^      f  V     f 


The  Century  and 
the  School 

and 

Other  Educational  Essays 


BY 

FRANK  LOUIS  SOLDAN 

ft.' 

Late  Superintendent  of  the  St.  Louis  Public  Schoolt 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1912 

AU  rights  retervtd 


L64l\ 

S6S    \ 


Copyright,  igia 
By  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  February,  1912. 


PREFACE 

The  essays  brought  together  in  this  volume 
were  selected,  by  a  group  of  his  intimate  asso- 
ciates, from  the  manuscripts  of  Superintend- 
ent F.  Louis  Soldan,  after  his  death.  They 
felt  that  the  spirit  which  had  exerted  so 
strong  an  influence  upon  public  education 
might  be  kept  alive  in  the  minds  and  hearts  of 
teachers  through  its  expression  in  the  literary 
appeals  it  had  made  while  in  the  full  force  of 
its  activity. 

The  selection  of  subjects  for  this  purpose 
could  not  have  been  more  happily  made. 
They  cover  a  wide  range  of  related  thoughts 
and  exhibit  the  man  in  his  many-sided  touch 
with  developing  youth  and  the  social  institu- 
tions of  which  it  was  both  the  care  and  the  in- 
spiring hope.  His  treatment  of  the  subjects 
is  that  of  a  critical  though  sympathetic  student 
of  school  plans  and  methods. 

He  laughs  shams  out  of  court  and  defends 
with  the  courage  of  intelligent  conviction  the 
ideas  and  practices  which  long  experience  has 
tried  and  justified.     He  manifests  a  soul  in 


vi  Preface 

tune  with  literary  expression.  His  power  to 
catch  the  dominant  chord  is  manifested  in  his 
characterization  of  the  aim  of  Dickens  as, 
"The  unveiling  of  divine  things  in  human." 
His  analysis  of  moral  values  is  keen  and  has 
the  precision  of  a  chart  of  conduct  while  estab- 
lishing the  obligation  of  individual  decision. 

In  "Folklore  and  Fairy  Tales"  we  see  his 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  soul  of  the  nat- 
ural child  and  his  practical  sense  in  the  use  of 
this  knowledge  in  adapting  instrumentalities 
and  processes  to  the  child's  education. 

These  essays  are  informing,  but  their  great- 
est worth  is  in  their  buoyant  confidence  in  the 
power  of  high  purpose  and  strong  character. 

His  conception  of  the  noble  aim  of  teaching 
is  thus  expressed:  "A  hand  ready  to  help,  a 
contented  mind,  an  appreciation  of  those 
treasures  that  are  higher  than  life  itself,  this 
is  the  ethical  task  which  the  century  demands 
of  the  school." 

Ben  Blewett. 

St  Louis,  December,  1911. 


CONTENTS 

The  Century  and  the  School 
Morality  and  Education 
What  is  a  Fad?        .... 
Teachers'  Duties      .... 
Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels 
A  Visit  to  German  Schools 
Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades 
Folklore  and  Fairy  Tales 


I 

38 
58 

77 
100 

139 
172 
191 


vu 


THE  CENTURY  AND  THE  SCHOOL 

We  are  told  by  philologists  that  our  fore- 
fathers in  making  the  myths  which  we  find  in 
their  poetry  and  legends  were  wiser  than  they 
knew.  In  these  myths  modern  philology  has 
discovered  wonderful  truths.  It  professes  to 
know  more  about  Apollo  than  the  Greeks, 
more  about  Jupiter  than  the  Romans,  and 
more  about  Thor  than  the  Saxons  of  the 
North.  When  it  is  thus  the  practice  to  invest 
ancient  myths  with  modern  meaning,  we  may 
be  allowed  to  select  one  of  these  myths  for  the 
purpose  of  this  paper,  and  try  to  find  in 
ancient  lore  the  foreshadowing  of  a  modern 
view. 

There  is  no  story  more  prevalent  in  north- 
ern mythology,  than  that  of  little  beings, 
gifted  with  extraordinary  powers.  In  the 
tales  of  Scotland  and  of  old  England  the  little 
Brownies  play  an  important  part.  They 
sweep  the  floor  which  the  servant  has  neg- 
lected, they  do  the  work  which  the  lazy  mortal 
has  forgotten  to  do.  They  are  the  working 
spirits,  the  little  active  principles.     So,  in  the 


2  The  Century  and  the  School 

mythology  of  the  Norse  peoples,  the  giants 
and  gods,  powerful  in  stature  and  deeds, 
seem  in  reality  dependent  for  their  weapons, 
armor,  and  all  their  worldly  goods  upon  the 
diligence  of  those  little  dwarfs,  who  are  the 
types  of  wisdom  and  industry.  To  their  skill 
the  gods  and  giants  owe  the  arms  by  which 
alone  they  retain  power  and  sway.  And  yet 
these  little  beings  live  removed  from  the  eyes 
of  the  world  and  from  the  light  of  day.  In 
modest  retirement  they  are  the  guardians  of 
the  highest  treasures  of  mountain  and  mine. 
In  the  darkness  of  the  caverns  they  toil  and 
labor,  they  ply  the  hammer  and  make  for 
Odin  the  never-missing  spear,  for  Thor  the 
terrible  hammer;  they  build  for  Freya  the 
free  ship,  and  they  weave  the  golden  hair  of 
the  goddess  of  the  earth. 

If  we  are  allowed  to  carry  into  this  story 
an  explanation  of  our  own,  it  seems  as  if  the 
ancient  myth  foreshadowed  a  discovery  of  our 
century,  namely,  the  truth  that  the  events  of 
nature  and  of  the  world  are  not  brought  about 
by  Titanic  revolutions,  but  are  the  result  of 
the  silent  and  persistent  forces  which  work 
quietly  and  unobservedly  in  every  atom  and 
cell.  Apparently  insignificant  processes  which 
surround  us  everywhere  and  at  every  moment. 


The  Century  and  the  School  3 

are  sufficient  to  account  for  all  the  changes  in 
nature.  The  little  forces  shape  the  world, 
and  not  the  gigantic  revolutions  of  which 
former  theories  spoke. 

This  recognition  of  the  power  of  the  silent 
and  little  forces  of  nature,  which  work  out  of 
sight,  in  the  depths  of  the  world,  is  the  view 
peculiar  to  the  science  of  our  century.  Our 
century  has  discovered  these  little  powers  and 
observed  their  work  in  nature.  While  former 
theories  saw  in  the  surface  of  the  earth  the 
result  of  great  revolutions  and  sudden  up- 
heavals, the  science  of  our  century  has  found 
that  all  these  forms  of  geological  life  are  due 
to  the  steady  work  of  forces  which  surround 
us  and  which  we  can  observe  in  their  activity 
every  moment.  It  is  the  little  and  insig- 
nificant cause  which  creates  and  sustains  the 
great  and  gigantic  phenomenon.  Before  the 
examining  glance  of  science,  whatever  is  great 
dissolves  itself,  and  appears  to  be  the  work 
of  what  seems  small  and  powerless.  Those 
bold  cliflfs  and  mountains  which  protect  the 
south  of  England  against  the  fury  of  the  sea, 
appear  to  the  inquisitive  eye  as  untold  myriads 
of  little  shells  which  in  slow  accumulation 
have  formed  mountains.  Society  too  has 
its  little  powers  which    compared  with  the 


4  The  Century  and  the  School 

gigantic  interests  of  modern  times,  with  poli- 
tics,   commerce,    and    the    wheel -works    of 
manufacture   and   transit  and  trade,   appear 
insignificant  and  small,  but  which  neverthe- 
less in  modest  retirement  drive  the  wheels  and 
move  the  loom  of  time.     Among  these  small 
powers,  in  which  our  century  has  recognized 
a  creative  and  preservative  power  which  sup- 
ports the  state  and  sustains  social  life,  there 
is  none  humbler  but  at  the  same  time  more 
significant  than  the  school.     Like  those  little 
mythical  beings  of  the  old  Norse  story  who 
wrought  the  arms  by  which  the  giants  of  the 
world    maintained    their    sway,    the    school 
creates  for  the  state  the  arms  against  bar- 
barism and  crime,  the  school  in  the  opinion 
of  our  century  builds  the  throne  on  which 
liberty  can  safely  rest,  it  covers  the  earth  with 
the  golden  harvest  of  the  peaceful  arts.     Like 
the  Brownies,  who  were  the  guardians  of  great 
treasures,  education   and  the  school  are  the 
guardians  of  the  great  treasures  of  humanity, 
of  knowledge,  morality,  and  law. 

According  to  the  view  which  our  century 
takes  of  education,  the  school  should  not  only 
be  the  guardian  of  the  ethical  treasures  of 
mankind,  but  also  the  servant  of  the  aims  and 
the  objects  of  the  times. 


The  Century  and  the  School  5 

All  callings  have  a  narrowing  influence  on 
those  that  follow  them,   and  the  teacher  is 
not   free   from   the   narrowing   influence  of 
his  humble  vocation.     "In  narrow  work  the 
mind  itself  grows  narrow"  is  a  true  saying. 
Too  easily  we  cling  to  what  is  traditional  and 
old  and  a  time-honored  custom,  and  it  is  some- 
times necessary  to   remind  ourselves  of  the 
old  saying  of  the  Roman  teacher:  "Do  not 
educate  the  child  for  the  school  but  for  life  I" 
It  is  a  just  demand  that  the  school  should 
move  along  with  the  progressive  movement 
of  society  at  large.     Thus  it  appears  that  the 
school   should  be  guided   by  the  wants   of 
society;  but  the   features  of  society  change 
more  quickly  than  the  waves  of  the  river,  and 
never  more  than  in  this  age  of  quick  growth' 
and  quick  decay.     The  work  of  adapting  the 
school  to  the  changing  demands  of  the  times 
is  not  an  easy  one.     But  that  system  of  schools 
which  does  not  move  and  develop  with  the 
motion  of  the  times,  is  not  carried  along  on 
the  fresh  wave  of  public  opinion  and  loses 
its  place  in  the  sympathies  of  the  people.    To 
keep  pace  with  the  development  of  society 
and  science,  to  assimilate  what  is  new,  with- 
out discarding  what  is  good  in  things  tradi- 
tional and  time-honored,  to  appreciate  new 


6  The  Century  and  the  School 

demands  and  new  interests  without  injustice 
to  what  is  old  and  tried,  this  is  the  task  of  that 
education  which  means  to  be  what  it  ought 
to  be,  namely,  the  true  servant  of  the  noblest 
aims  of  our  century.  The  pupil  shall  enter 
life  not  with  his  face  turned  backward,  like 
one  who  has  been  trained  in  the  lore  of  the 
past  only,  not  like  a  wanderer  in  the  bewilder- 
ing mazes  of  an  unintelligible,  unknown 
world,  but  rather  as  a  new  reaper  steps  into 
the  field  to  engage  in  work  for  which  his  edu- 
cation has  endowed  him  with  taste  and  ability. 
Thus,  growing  upon  the  fresh  soil  of  the 
century,  the  school  sends  thousands  of  strong 
roots  into  the  life  of  the  nation  and  sucks  new 
power  out  of  the  throbbing  heart  of  the  cen- 
tury. Those  epochs  in  education  are  the 
greatest  in  which  the  school  has  been  roused 
from  dreams  of  the  past,  and  linked  afresh  to 
the  bright  life  of  the  present.  The  glorious 
rise  of  the  school  during  the  time  of  the  refor- 
mation began  with  the  moment  that  Latin 
was  displaced  from  its  universal  position  in 
all  the  schools,  and  the  vernacular  was  taught 
to  the  people  to  enable  them  to  read  the  newly- 
translated  Bible.  What  seemed  to  many  the 
ruin  or  the  giving  up  of  the  characteristic  task, 
the  teaching  of  Latin,  was  in  reality  the  begin- 


The  Century  and  the  School  7 

ning  of  the  modern  era  in  education,  during 
which  schools  have  grown  so  wonderfully  that 
no  mediaeval  mind  could  conceive  of  such  a 
growth,  and  no  historical  parallel  can  be 
found. 

The  next  powerful  impulse  was  given  to 
the  school  by  Bacon  when  he  confronted  the 
humanistic  book-wisdom  and  the  Aristotelian 
authority  by  emphasizing  the  neglected  study 
of  nature.  With  the  moment  that  Pestalozzi's 
spirit  conceived  the  idea  of  educating  the 
masses,  an  idea  ignored  by  Locke  as  well  as 
by  Rousseau,  with  the  moment  that  Pestalozzi 
wedded  the  school  to  the  life  of  the  nation,  be- 
gan the  new  era  in  education  in  which  we  live 
at  present.  The  school  of  our  days  will 
not  lose  anything  by  embracing  fully  and 
unreservedly  the  spirit  of  our  century.  The 
influence  of  the  school  is  powerful  and  stir- 
ring in  proportion  as  it  conceives  and  recog- 
nizes the  noblest  aims  and  endeavors  of  the 
century  and  tries  to  teach  in  accordance  with 
them.  Not  only  usage  and  traditional  meth- 
ods, but  also  reason  and  progress  should  regu- 
late school  institutions. 

"Custom  calls  me  to  it — 
What  custom  wills,  in  all  things  should  we  do  it, 
The  dust  of  antique  time  would  lie  unswept, 
And  mountainous  error  be  too  highly  heaped 
For  truth  to  overpeer." 


8  The  Century  and  the  School 

Thus  then  our  century  demands  that  the 
school  be  the  guardian  of  the  best  aspirations 
of  the  times,  but  it  should  also  be  the  servant 
of  those  interests  which  do  not  belong  to  any 
particular  time,  but  to  all  times,  namely,  the 
general  ethical  interests  of  humanity. 

Our  century  deserves  that  the  school  be 
subservient  to  it,  for  no  other  age  has,  even 
approximately,  recognized  the  value  of  edu- 
cation as  much  as  the  present,  or  expressed  its 
appreciation  in  such  an  active  way,  by  the 
establishment  and  support  of  the  most  won- 
derful educational  systems. 

"He  who  controls  the  education  of  a  na- 
tion," says  Leibnitz,  "controls  its  future."  The 
assurance  of  the  duration  and  perpetuity  of 
free  institutions  lies  in  the  possibility  of  edu- 
cating a  nation  so  as  to  make  the  masses  with 
whom  ultimately  the  government  of  a  country 
rests,  intelligent  and  responsible  rulers  in 
their  own  affairs. 

There  is  probably  no  other  institution  which 
has  been  made  so  extensively  the  subject  of 
attacks  and  abuse  as  the  school.  It  has  been 
blamed  for  educating  too  much  and  for  edu- 
cating too  little.  It  has  been  censured  on 
account  of  not  doing  enough  to  prevent  crime 
and  criticised  for  not  doing  enough  to  pro- 


The  Century  and  the  School  9 

duce  wealth.  It  has  been  arraigned  as  an 
enemy  of  physical  health  of  youth.  Every 
class  of  specialists  has  demanded  that  the 
school  should  do  something  for  the  promotion 
of  its  art,  and  has  denounced  it  for  not  doing 
enough.  In  all  these  things  it  is  evident  that 
much  is  expected  from  the  school.  But  even 
in  the  unreasonable  demands  made  upon  it, 
there  is  an  element  not  entirely  unsatisfactory 
to  the  friends  of  education,  namely,  that  all 
these  demands  imply  an  almost  boundless 
confidence  in  the  power  of  education.  It  is 
reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  school  can  do 
much,  but  it  is  foolish  to  imagine  that  it  can 
do  everything.  The  century  has  great  faith 
in  the  efficiency  and  power  of  the  school.  In 
all  the  evils  which  beset  the  body  politic,  the 
school  is  expected  to  furnish  some  remedy 
which  will  cure  or  prevent  them. 

This  belief  is  characteristic  of  the  century, 
and  we  do  not  find  fault  with  it,  even  when  it 
speaks  in  exaggeration  of  what  the  school  can 
do  for  the  state,  and  when  it  forgets  that  there 
are  many  educational  factors  besides  the 
school,  that  life,  family,  civil  vocations,  the 
press,  the  pulpit  are  just  as  important  and 
responsible  factors  in  education  as  the  school. 
Neglects  and  errors  in  education  cannot  and 


lo         The  Century  and  the  School 

should  not  be  charged  to  the  school  alone. 

There  are  two  distinct  classes  of  demands, 
however,  which  the  century  makes  upon  the 
school.  The  one  is,  that  the  school  shall  be 
in  harmony  with  the  practical  aims  and  with 
the  spirit  of  the  times;  and  the  other,  that  it 
shall  help  to  guard  those  interests  which  are 
as  old  as  the  human  race  itself,  namely,  the 
ethical  interests  which  alone  constitute — make 
or  render  man  a  civilized  being,  and  make 
uprightness  and  charity  part  of  his  nature. 
The  demands  of  the  century  on  the  school  are 
then,  first,  of  a  practical,  and  second  of  an 
ethical  character. 

If  the  practical  demand  is  that  the  school 
should  accord  with  the  spirit  of  the  century, 
it  becomes  necessary  to  inquire  what  the  spirit 
of  the  century  is,  so  that  we  know  according 
to  what  standard  the  school  should  shape  its 
course. 

Every  age  has  its  own  features  which  ap- 
pear strongly  marked  in  its  history,  art, 
science,  religion,  politics,  and  society;  and, 
as  the  features  of  a  human  being  change  and 
,  are  ennobled  in  the  course  of  a  thoughtful  life, 
so  the  features  and  the  aspect  of  the  times 
change  with  each  newly  discovered  truth, 
with  each  world-historical  deed.     The  eternal 


The  Century  and  the  School  ii 

fountain  out  of  which  the  deeds  and  thoughts 
of  a  nation  arise  wells  up  forever.  The  poet 
says,  "Ever  over  the  path  of  mankind  flashes, 
like  lightning,  eternal  truth."  And  thus  the 
features  of  the  time  are  subject  to  perpetual 
changes. 

May  we  then  be  allowed  to  draw,  with  a 
few  lines,  an  image  of  the  times,  as  they 
appear  to  us,  without  ignoring  the  truth  that 
the  times  are  not  always  as  they  appear  to  the 
painter;  remembering,  however,  that  much  of 
the  portrait  depends  on  the  artist  who  draws 
it.  The  one  may  paint  his  century  with  the 
brush  of  Tintoretto,  with  bright  lights  and 
deep  shadows,  while  the  other  may  portray 
his  century  in  a  picture  after  Rembrandt's 
fashion ;  the  head  and  brow  radiant  with  light, 
but  the  heart  covered  with  black  shadow  and 
gloom. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
American  life  was  still  knit  together  with  the 
life  of  England;  and  the  history  of  Europe 
was  that  of  America,  and  therefore  in  consid- 
ering European  history  for  a  moment  we  con- 
sider what  was  then  American  history  as  well. 

In  the  latter  half  of  the  eighteenth  century 
mankind  seemed  to  rise  and  to  shake  off  the 
fetters  of  medievalism,  which  still  clung  to 


12         The  Century  and  the  School 

its  limbs  and  held  it  in  a  state  of  social  and 
political  bondage.  The  dormant  energy  of 
the  race  awoke;  an  era  of  new  activity  sprang 
suddenly  into  existence.  In  politics,  in  sci- 
ence, in  art,  a  new  epoch  began.  It  was  a 
revival  which  was  perhaps  more  transitory, 
but  certainly  not  less  important  than  the  great 
revival  of  the  fourteenth  and  fifteenth  centu- 
ries. As  in  the  earlier  revival  of  learning, 
when  art  broke  with  the  conventional  and 
Byzantine  models,  it  seized  again  upon  the 
classical  art-forms  of  antiquity,  so,  in  the 
revival  of  liberty,  the  last  century  resuscitated 
the  political  forms  of  antiquity,  the  idea  of 
the  Republic  was  revived,  and  into  this  old 
form  the  century  poured  its  new  life. 

Yorktown  ended  forever  the  dream  of  a 
monarchy  in  America,  and  the  success  of  the 
new  state  in  its  struggle  reanimated  the  idea$ 
of  liberty  in  the  old  world.  New  America? 
and  New  France  arose.  Fresh  light  shone 
forth  from  the  fields  of  science  and  art.  As 
on  one  side  were  the  political,  so  on  the  other, 
were  the  scientific  systems  remodeled  and 
re-created.  The  French  revolution  brought 
about  a  new  order  of  society,  French  science 
produced  a  new  classification  of  the  kingdoms 
of  nature,  French  legislation  gave  us  the  only 


The  Century  and  the  School  13 

thoroughly  modern  code  of  laws,  French  com- 
merce adopted  a  new  division  of  weights  and 
measures.  All  this  manifests  the  strong  revo- 
lutionary character  of  the  period.  In  the 
department  of  letters  the  same  strong  pulsa- 
tion was  felt,  and  the  heart  of  the  world 
throbbed  again  with  a  great  period  of  literary 
and  intellectual  life.  The  great  names  of  this 
movement  tell  its  history.  In  philosophy, 
Condillac,  Voltaire,  D'Alembert,  De  Lamet- 
trie,  Hume,  Kant;  in  literature,  Beaumarchais, 
Diderot,  Marmontel,  Montesquieu,  Rousseau; 
in  science,  Bufifon,  Daubenton,  Brisson,  Geof- 
froy-Saint-Hilaire,  Cuvier,  Jussieu,  Biot, 
Saussure,  Watt,  Franklin,  Jenner. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  this  re- 
vival of  the  scientific  and  literary  spirit  was 
not  confined  to  France  alone.  The  Italian 
Canova,  for  instance,  the  Dane  Thorwaldsen, 
the  greatest  sculptors  of  modern  times,  Goethe 
and  Schiller,  the  great  poets  of  Germany, 
belong  to  the  same  period.  This  time  of  al- 
most feverish  activity  in  science  and  politics 
was  followed  by  decades  of  complete  prostra- 
tion caused  by  the  fearful  wars  of  the  Napo- 
leonic episode.  A  period  of  languid  reaction 
in  all  the  fields  of  intellectual  work  ensued. 
England,    after   18 15,   rested   exhausted   and 


14         The  Century  and  the  School 

almost  broken  from  its  gigantic  but  futile 
efforts  against  the  American  colonies,  or  the 
United  States,  and  against  France. 

France,  whose  revolutionary  arms  had  over- 
run all  Europe,  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of 
a  soldier  of  genius,  whom  the  combination  of 
all  the  powers  of  Europe  had  dethroned  and 
chained  to  the  rocks  of  Saint  Helena;  and  now 
began  throughout  Europe  a  time  of  political 
oppression.  The  kings  of  the  old  world  had 
called  on  their  people  to  drive  out  the  French 
conquerors,  but  they  soon  became  afraid  of 
the  spirit  they  had  conjured  up.  They  sup- 
pressed every  manifestation  of  popular  polit- 
ical activity.  The  press  was  shorn  of  its  rights 
and  deprived  of  its  remaining  freedom.  All 
Europe  was  exhausted  and  rested  languidly. 
The  era  of  progress,  so  suddenly  begun,  found 
as  sudden  an  end  in  a  period  of  political  decay 
which  extended  through  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century.  The  hope  of  humanity 
had  fled  across  the  Atlantic.  America  had 
separated  her  fate  from  that  of  the  older 
countries,  and  was  the  only  oasis  of  freedom 
in  a  universal  desert  of  tyranny.  While 
Europe  had  broken  with  the  free  political 
traditions  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  was 
uprooting'them  with  merciless  fury,  they  were 


The  Century  and  the  School  15 

cherished  and  put  into  practice  in  America. 
The  history  of  the  United  States  forms  a  quiet 
contrast  to  this  in  the  growth  of  the  noblest 
ideas  which  the  revival  of  liberty  had  brought 
forth  in  Europe. 

Literature  gave  evidence  of  this  sudden 
downfall.  The  struggle  against  the  existing 
order  of  things,  in  society  and  law,  was  vividly 
depicted  in  the  productions  of  the  leading 
writers  of  this  period.  Highwaymen  and 
corsairs  became  ideal  types  in  fiction  and 
prose.  Byron  in  England,  Alfred  de  Musset 
in  France,  Heine  and  Lenau  in  Germany,  and 
perhaps  Wordsworth,  whose  poetry  turned 
away  from  man  and  society  and  glorified 
nature,  were  the  representative  names  of  the 
literature  of  this  period  of  political  sloth, 
inactivity,  and  stagnation.  A  kind  of  apathy 
had  taken  possession  of  the  European  mind, 
and  the  literature  of  this  period  has  not  un- 
aptly been  called  the  literature  of  world- 
despair.  The  more  active  elements  of  the 
European  races  turned  their  back  to  the  land 
of  brutal  oppression  and  found  homes  in  the 
valleys  and  prairies  of  the  great  republic. 
The  era  of  indifference  gave  rise  even  to  a 
new  school  of  philosophy.  Kant's  school, 
represented    after   his   death    by    Hamilton, 


1 6  The  Century  and  the  School 

Comte  and  others — ^which  had  arrived  at  the 
conclusion  that  there  could  not  be  much  cer- 
tainty about  external  things  anyway — and, 
the  Hegelian  school  with  its  encouraging 
optimism,  was  followed  by  the  dreary  school 
of  Schopenhauer  who  saw  in  death  and  rest 
the  only  true  happiness  of  man.  The  political 
atmosphere  was  stifling;  the  governments  were 
leagued  against  their  peoples.  But  what  was 
invulnerable  to  attack  was  not  safe  against 
aspersion.  Satire  and  skepticism,  Punch  and 
Thackeray,  took  their  place  in  the  literature 
of  the  day  and  in  the  art  of  the  period.  In- 
activity became  a  political  doctrine.  A  kind 
of  ethical  materialism  arose  in  refined  society 
which  sought  to  ameliorate  the  emptiness  of 
existence  by  sensuous  enjoyment. 

While  this  was  the  drift  of  the  surface 
culture,  a  fresh  under-current  gradually  but 
steadily  welled  up  from  the  deepest  heart  of 
the  people,  and  a  wonderful  wave  from  eco- 
nomic and  social  springs  led  to  a  regeneration 
of  public  life.  Creative  power,  of  which 
governments  seemed  devoid,  still  lived  in  the 
sinews  and  marrow  of  our  civilization,  and  it 
burst  forth  through  the  channel  of  the  indus- 
trial activities  and  invigorated  afresh  the  old 
world.     Practical  life  lightly  blew  away  the 


The  Century  and  the  School  17 

cobwebs  of  the  literature  and  metaphysics  of 
quietism.  The  era  of  indifference  came  to  a 
sudden  end  when  a  new  revolution,  like  an 
electric  shock,  passed  over  the  world  in  1848. 
Thirty  years  of  political  commotion  followed, 
during  which  great  nations  like  Italy  and 
Germany  sprang  into  existence,  and  the  noble 
new  republic  of  France  was  established  in  the 
midst  of  unspeakable  difficulties.  During  all 
this  time  the  star  of  our  republic  had  risen 
higher  in  the  western  skies,  and  growing  in 
splendor  until  it  outshone  all  other  constella- 
tions, dazzled  the  eyes  of  the  world.  A  peo- 
ple had  risen  out  of  nothing  to  rank  as  the  first 
nation  of  the  earth.  The  depression  of  the 
old  empires  served  only  to  raise  the  new  em- 
pire higher.  The  miseries  of  Europe  were 
the  prosperity  of  America.  Each  act  of  op- 
pression, each  new  revolution  choked  in  blood 
had  thrown  myriads  of  strong  men  and  women 
on  the  shores  of  the  republic.  This  period  of 
decomposition  and  destruction  of  the  old  world 
was  an  unceasingly  creative  era  for  the  United 
States.  Here  a  continuous,  peaceful  growth 
had  matured  the  political  ideas  which  the  last 
century  had  taught,  and  on  whose  destruction 
and  uprooting  the  European  governments  had 
wasted  their  energies.     Here,  out  of  separated 


1 8  The  Century  and  the  School 

colonies  a  confederation  of  states  arose.  It 
was  the  era  of  a  more  perfect  union  which  cul- 
minated in  the  creation  of  the  United  States.  A 
process  of  unification  had  begun,  and  its  first 
stage  went  on  through  sixty  years  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  during  which  time,  in  the 
fermentation  of  political  agitation,  the  disin- 
tegrating questions  arose  to  the  surface,  ready, 
to  be  taken  of]f.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  civil 
war,  the  nation  was  still  divided  by  the  incom- 
patible systems  of  slave  labor  and  competitive 
work,  and  by  an  honest  diversity  of  opinion 
in  regard  to  constitutional  provisions.  But 
these  distinctions  having  been  removed  by  the 
results  of  the  war,  we  have,  in  place  of  what 
the  Constitution  calls  a  more  perfect  union 
of  the  states,  the  most  perfect  union  of  South 
and  North,  a  union  which  will  last  forever 
because  it  is  now  based  on  a  community  of  in- 
terests. The  past  history  of  America,  more 
wonderful  than  a  fairy  tale,  is  but  "an  earnest 
of  what  shall  be."  We  see  the  process  of  uni- 
fication going  on  and  completing  itself  in  a 
thousand  ways.  What  a  wonderful  history 
was  ours,  even  while  the  land  was  divided  in 
itself!  What  untold  possibilities  are  there  in 
the  future  now  when  South  and  North  have 
the    same   hope,    the    same    aspiration     and 


The  Century  and  the  School  19 

mingle  their  energy  in  one  mighty  current! 

Before  the  beginning  of  this  era  one  might 
have  drawn  a  line  across  the  continent  and 
said :  "Here  ends  the  community  of  interests ; 
here  is  the  North  and  there  is  the  South ;  here 
is  agriculture  and  there  is  manufacture  and 
commerce;  here  is  black,  there  is  white  labor; 
here  are  emigrants,  there  are  slaves;  here  is 
public,  there  is  private  education."  But 
where  is  this  line  of  demarcation  now?  It 
has  vanished  in  the  quick  process  which  now 
is  forming  the  most  perfect  union  of  all  times. 
Already  it  is  impossible  to  designate  the  South 
as  an  exclusively  agricultural  and  the  North 
as  the  exclusively  manufacturing  division. 
North  or  South,  it  is  the  same  people,  the 
same  characteristic  energy. 

Already  it  is  impossible  to  draw  the  line 
between  North  and  South  and  to  say:  public 
schools  here,  private  schools  there.  Much 
remains  to  be  done  yet,  but  on  the  other  hand 
there  is  no  feature  of  the  last  twenty  years  that 
calls  for  more  sincere  admiration  than  the 
noble  work  done  by  the  South  to  educate  her 
people,  both  white  and  black. 

The  political  features  in  the  history  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  great  as  they  are,  brilliant 
as  they  appear,  are  after  all  only  details.     The 


20  The  Century  and  the  School 

spirit  and  essence  of  the  century  lie  not  in  the 
great  political  actions  of  the  age,  not  in  the 
pomp  and  splendor  of  war,  but  finds  its  motive 
powers  and  levers  rather  in  the  quiet  shop  of 
the  artisan,  in  the  busy  counting-room  of  the 
merchant,  and  in  the  retired  laboratories  of 
science.  By  the  invention  and  perfection  of 
machines  the  labor  of  the  artisan  and  me- 
chanic has  lost  its  old  form.  The  production 
and  manufacture  of  articles  for  the  needs 
of  human  society  has  experienced  almost 
infinite  expansion.  The  constant  cooperation 
of  many  hands  necessitated  by  the  new  form 
of  production,  and  on  the  other  hand  the 
desire  to  facilitate  the  exchange  of  the  multi- 
tude of  products,  has  led,  with  other  causes, 
to  the  incomparably  rapid  growth  of  cities  in 
Europe  and  America,  and  new  problems  for 
legislation  and  education  have  been  created 
by  city  life. 

Production  on  a  vast  scale  requires  also 
extensive  means  of  transportation,  and  there- 
fore the  development  of  the  latter  keeps  pace 
with  the  steadily  increasing  growth  of  fac- 
tory work.  The  new  means  of  transportation 
stand  in  the  closest  connection  with  the  growth 
of  manufacture,  for  without  the  machine  labor 
of  our  century  and  its  mass  of  productions, 


The  Century  and  the  School  21 

without  the  involved  necessity  of  instant  and 
extensive  distribution  of  the  manufactured 
articles,  neither  railroad  nor  telegraph  could 
exist.  The  limit  of  the  development  of  the 
one  is  the  limit  of  the  growth  of  the  other. 
Our  century  has  printing  presses  which  can 
print,  cut,  fold,  and  fasten  a  vast  number  of 
sheets  per  hour,  and  the  invention  is  capable  of 
further  development,  but  the  true  limit  lies  in 
the  demand,  in  the  number  of  readers  or  sub- 
scribers. It  is  useless  to  manufacture  articles 
by  the  million  which  are  demanded  by  the 
hundred  only.  This  mass  production  which 
is  characteristic  of  our  century  presupposes 
vastly  increased  consumption.  The  existence 
of  countless  factories  and  machines  is  in  itself 
a  proof  of  the  fact  of  increased  consumption. 
The  enormously  increased  rate  of  production 
is  intelligible  only  on  the  presupposition  that 
each  individual  human  being  enjoys  a  greater 
share  of  those  things  which  make  life  pleasant. 
If  it  is  true  that  the  possibility  of  civilization 
depends  on  a  certain  amount  of  luxury,  and 
that  no  nation  can  make  any  progress  in  the 
former  unless  its  labor  has  procured  for  it 
wealth  and  luxury,  it  follows  that  in  a  period 
like  ours,  where  the  individual  commands 
more  wealth,  greater  comfort,  civilization  and 


22  The  Century  and  the  School 

refinement  can  spread  more  widely  and  be- 
come the  attributes  of  the  masses  of  the  people 
instead  of  remaining  the  privilege  of  the  few. 
Of  these  characteristics  of  the  century  the 
school  must   take   cognizance.     In   the   past 
period  of  individualized  labor  each  mechanic 
worked  for  himself,  independent  of  all  his 
fellow-workmen.      The  article  made  in  the 
shop  received  its  whole  form,  from  the  raw 
material  to  its  finished  state,  through  the  same 
hand.     For  this  reason  each  workman  had  to 
be  trained  so  as  to  master  the  whole  process; 
the  mode  of  production  which  our  century 
has   invented    demands   extreme    division    of 
labor.     A  piece  of  work  passes  through  many 
hands  before  it  is  completed.     The  individual 
worker  no  longer  needs  the  knowledge  of  the 
whole  process,  but  skill  in  a  small  part  only 
of  the  process.     It  has  become  easier  to  learn 
a  trade  than  it  was  formerly,  but,  for  the  same 
reason,  the  workman  is  less  sure  of  retain- 
ing his  position.     In  this  complex  system  of 
divided  labor  each  individual  becomes   de- 
pendent on  the  other,  and  individual  inde- 
pendence in  work  has  disappeared. 

The  new  mode  of  production  gives  to  labor 
the  character  of  restlessness.  The  individual 
must  do  his  work  quickly  and  hand  it  over  to 


The  Century  and  the  School  23 

the  waiting  hands  of  his  fellow-workman,  or 
the  movement  of  the  whole  chain  will  be  in- 
terrupted. The  golden,  comfortable  easy  time 
of  the  artisan  of  the  past  era,  the  pleasant,  slow 
rhythm  of  rest  and  work  has  disappeared, 
driven  away  by  the  whir  of  spindle  and  spool. 
Rip  Van  Winkle  would  wait  in  vain  today 
for  master-tailor  and  master-shoemaker  to 
accompany  him  to  the  linden  tree  before  the 
inn  for  their  Monday  morning  potion.  The 
romance  of  rest  with  intervals  of  work,  the 
romance  of  easy  individual  labor  belongs  to 
the  past.  In  our  century  each  man  must  labor 
as  one  of  the  grand  army  of  workers,  and  obey 
the  commands  of  his  calling  at  all  times,  at 
all  hours.  If  he  wants  to  work  at  all,  he  must 
move  in  the  strictly  circumscribed  course,  and 
with  the  regularity  and  precision  of  a  wheel 
in  a  never-resting,  huge  machine. 

The  feverish,  restless  motion  which  ma- 
chine labor  requires  has  exerted  an  influence 
on  the  mind  which  extends  beyond  the  prov- 
ince of  manufacture  and  commerce.  It  has 
marked  the  whole  age  with  its  characteristics, 
so  that  all  the  callings  of  peace  and  war  bear 
the  stamp  of  highest  strain  and  energetic 
haste.  The  other  characteristic  of  the  century, 
namely,  the  rapidity  and  far-reaching  impetus 


24         The  Century  and  the  School 

of  the  means  of  transit,  has  perhaps  contrib- 
uted still  more  than  the  changed  forms  of 
labor,  to  give  to  this  period  the  peculiar  char- 
acteristics of  which  we  have  spoken.  For 
railroads  and  steamships  and  telegraph  and 
postal  facilities  do  not  serve  for  the  distribu- 
tion of  material  wealth  merely,  they  also  com- 
municate and  distribute  intellectual  treasures 
and  spread  and  scatter  human  sympathy  and 
thought  all  over  the  world.  The  peaceful 
victories  and  conquests  of  mankind  in  trade 
and  commerce,  the  inventions  of  genius,  the 
wisdom  and  folly  of  political  experiments  are 
daily  communicated  by  telegraph  and  press 
to  all  the  cultured  people  of  the  earth.  They 
also  serve  the  ends  of  universal  justice:  the 
wicked  tremble  when  they  hear  of  crime 
denounced  and  punished;  when  they  hear  of 
the  vindicated  majesty  of  the  law;  and  noble 
hearts  beat  higher  when  they  see  that  human- 
ity, without  distinction  of  language  or  race, 
defends  and  admires  what  is  good  and  just. 
The  sufferings  of  a  nation,  of  a  country  find  a 
thousand  tongues  and  a  responsive  echo  in  the 
help  of  distant  lands. 

Traveling  and  the  facilitated  communica- 
tion by  letter,  the  press,  the  telegraph  educate 
man's   political   sense  by  teaching  him   the 


The  Century  and  the  School  25 

political  methods  of  other  states.  Nations  be- 
come acquainted  with  each  other,  and  discover 
qualities  and  interests  which  they  possess  in 
common.  The  existence  of  the  American 
republic  is  a  constant  lesson  and  invitation 
to  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  France  has 
profited  by  it  in  our  own  time.  In  no  former 
age  has  the  cause  of  self-government  expe- 
rienced such  an  advance  as  in  our  day. 

Our  century  has  given  to  liberty  a  new 
foundation.  On  the  basis  of  economic  inter- 
ests modern  civil  freedom  has  arisen  and  be- 
come strong. 

As  a  subordinate  result  of  the  perfection  of 
the  means  of  communication,  it  deserves  to  be 
mentioned  that  the  stable  or  localized  char- 
acter of  the  civilization  of  former  centuries 
has  suffered  considerable  change.  Nations 
intermingle,  they  see  and  know  more  of  each 
other  than  formerly.  To  these  characteristics 
of  our  century,  our  own  country  owes  much  of 
its  wonderful  growth.  An  event  unheard  of  in 
all  history  begins  and  continues  through  the 
century,  inaugurated  by  the  leveling,  equal- 
izing tendencies  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
From  all  the  parts  of  Europe  a  mighty  stream 
of  all  races  and  tongues  issues  forth  and  pouio 
its  waves  into  the  prairies  and  valleys  of  the 


26  The  Century  and  the  School 

new  continent,  and  with  marvelous  rapidity 
they  form  a  new  nation,  with  sharply  defined 
national  characteristics;  a  nation  welded  to- 
gether so  indissolubly  by  the  cohesive  forces 
of  free  institutions  that  even  a  terrible  civil 
war  cannot  sever  it.  In  former  ages  a  small 
fraction  of  mankind  was  called  the  floating 
population.  Today  the  name  may  be  given 
in  a  certain  sense  to  almost  the  whole  world. 
The  individual  no  longer  knows  with  absolute 
certainty  that  he  will  finish  his  days  in  this  or 
that  town.  Not  many  persons  today  will 
resemble  Kant,  the  philosopher,  in  this  re- 
spect, who  never  in  his  life  went  twenty  miles 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  little  city  in  which  he 
was  born. 

I  have  attempted  to  draw  a  picture  of  the 
century  in  which  we  live.  We  cannot  with- 
draw from  its  influence.  Goethe  says :  "As  if 
driven  by  invisible  spirits,  the  sun-horses  of 
the  times  run  away  with  the  light  vehicle  of 
our  individual  fate;  and  nothing  remains  for 
us  but  to  grasp  the  reins  with  undaunted  en- 
ergy and,  guiding  to  the  right  and  to  the  left, 
to  turn  the  wheels  from  rocks  and  precipice. 
Whither  we  go — ^who  knows?  Why,  we 
hardly  know  whence  we  came." 

It  remains  for  us  to  consider  how  the  school 


The  Century  and  the  School  27 

may  be  made  serviceable  to  the  spirit  of  the 
century.  The  demands  of  the  present  period 
are  not  to  be  taken  as  substitutes  for  the  ethical 
and  generally  human  aims  of  the  school  of  all 
times,  but  rather  as  their  complement.  The 
latter  must  not  be  contradicted  by  the  former, 
for  the  ethical  aims  are  of  imperishable  and 
everlasting  value.  The  education  of  the  child 
to  truth,  virtue,  humanity,  to  charity,  and 
manly  strength,  aspires  to  aims  as  eternal  and 
immutable  as  the  stars  above.  But  to  these 
ethical  aims  the  demands  of  the  century  are 
added.  They  are  not  new,  but  the  old  de- 
mands have  become  more  pointed,  more  in- 
tense, and  the  tasks  have  been  raised  to  a 
higher  power. 

Our  age  is  an  age  of  effort,  work,  and  labor. 
The  activity  of  the  school  is  therefore  di- 
rected toward  a  double  task:  the  imparting  of 
knowledge,  and  the  formation  of  a  habit  of 
unremitting,  steady  industry.  No  principle 
needs  more  thorough  inculcation  than  that: 
;**!  will  do  what  I  ought  to  do."  Harmony 
between  duty  and  will  is  the  basis  of  moral 
culture  and  of  individual  happiness.  Not 
only  skill  in  his  work,  but  love  for  labor  and 
activity  should  be  the  gift  of  the  school  to  the 
young  being  when  he  enters  upon  his  path  in 


28         The  Century  and  the  School 

life,  if  he  is  to  find  there  satisfaction  and  hap- 
piness. In  former  epochs  the  aim  of  the  civil 
education  of  the  mechanic  or  artisan  in  his 
craft  was  the  adaptation  to  and  training  for 
a  special  trade  or  calling,  and  the  method  was 
to  lead  him  to  isolated,  independent  work. 
The  culture  of  our  century  demands  work- 
with  others.  Its  principle  is  no  longer  inde- 
pendence, but  interdependence.  In  the  place) 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  whole  process,  the 
condition  for  excellence  now  is  the  utmost 
manual  skill  and  dexterity  in  the  detail. 
Formerly  man  completed  the  work  and  the 
tool  was  his  assistant,  now  the  machine  per- 
forms the  task  and  man  helps  it.  Formerly 
his  knowledge  of  the  craft  afforded  to  the 
workman  protection  against  being  pushed  out 
of  his  place;  now,  in  some  trades  the  process 
can  be  learned  by  a  tyro  in  a  few  weeks 
or  days.  Not  unfrequently  trades  disappear 
altogether  when  a  new  machine  has  made 
them  superfluous.  Formerly  the  country  boy 
might  be  trained  exclusively  for  country  life 
and  the  city  boy  for  the  city.  Now,  no  cer- 
tainty of  future  occupation  can  be  inferred 
from  present  position. 

These  conditions  the  new  school  must  con- 
sider.   When    the   special   trade   no   longer 


The  Century  and  the  School  29 

affords  any  security  of  continuous  employ- 
ment, a  more  comprehensive  and  more  thor- 
ough schooling  can  impart  to  the  boy  greater 
powers  of  adaptation,  and  open  to  him  a  wider 
field.  Machine  labor  has  never  lessened  the 
value  of  intelligence  and  of  steady  character. 
For  the  very  reason  that  the  mechanical, 
spiritless  work  is  done  by  fettered  nature  her- 
self, the  intelligent  human  power  is  enhanced 
in  value.  With  every  new  machine  intelli- 
gent directive  power  becomes  more  indispen- 
sable, since  by  bungling  or  stupid  labor  the 
danger  is  multiplied  of  immense  loss.  The 
further  the  abilities  of  man  are  developed, 
the  greater  is  the  field  in  which  he  can  choose 
a  vocation.  How  many  fields  of  labor,  to 
mention  a  single  illustration,  are  opened  to  the 
boy  by  a  knowledge  of  a  single  study,  that  of 
drawing,/  ,which  without  such  knowledge 
would  remain  closed  to  him. 

School  education,  then,  which  does  not 
merely  educate  the  memory,  but  also  the 
senses  and  the  hand,  tends  to  increase  the  more 
stringent  conditions  of  existence.  Not  so 
much  the  mass  and  quantity  of  things  known 
form  the  test  of  a  good  school,  as  the  strength 
and  skill  of  hand  and  eye,  of  judgment  and 
will.     The  things  taught  are  means,  not  ends. 


30         The  Century  and  the  School 

The  century  demands  that  the  school  should 
work  for  life.  The  changes  made  in  the  most 
progressive  school  systems,  as  for  instance  the 
introduction  of  drawing,  of  the  manual  train- 
ing of  the  kindergarten  and  its  cultivation  of 
the  senses,  all  these  innovations  give  evidence 
of  the  responsive  tendency  of  the  school  and 
of  the  teaching  profession  to  do  justice  to 
reasonable  demands.  It  is  both  unwise  and 
unjust  in  criticising  the  schools  to  dwell  ex- 
clusively on  what  ought  to  be  done,  and  to 
ignore  the  great  things  already  accomplished. 
Enough,  it  is  true,  remains  to  be  done  by 
school  and  teacher,  and  may  the  day  never 
come  when  professional  self-sufficiency  thinks 
'^hat  our  schools  cannot  be  perfected.  But 
the  fact  that  there  are  things  that  have  not 
been  accomplished  by  the  school  is  rather  a 
basis  for  hope  than  for  criticism. 

**  Labor  with  what  zeal  we  will, 
Something  still  remains  undone, 
Something  uncompleted  still, 
Waits  the  rising  of  the  sun." 

Widened  and  extensive  intelligence,  narrow 
and  intensive  activity,  contact  and  sympathy 
with  universal  interests,  and  devotion  to  the 
special  vocation  are  the  peculiar  conditions 
of  our  century's  life.    The  former  teach  man 


The  Century  and  the  School  31' 

to  find  his  place  in  life,  the  latter  how  to 
fill  it.  The  school  is  carried  along  by  this 
current.  That  flaunting  wisdom  which  knows 
a  little  of  everything  and  nothing  well  is 
worthless — "of  all  things  a  little,  but  one  thing 
well"  is  a  much  better  principle.  The  school 
must  refuse  to  teach  more  than  can  be  taught 
well.  But,  since  the  whole  field  of  science 
cannot  be  grasped  even  in  its  elements,  it  re- 
mains the  task  of  the  school  to  fix  its  attention 
on  those  things  which  may  be  well  learned  by 
the  child.  The  former  mountebank  systems 
of  teaching,  which  shouted  in  street  and 
market  how  many  things  they  could  teach  and 
which  spread  over  everything,  were  shallow 
in  all  things.  The  principle  of  school  educa- 
tion is  depth  and  thoroughness  in  a  few  things, 
and  then  if  there  is  time  general  knowledge. 
Man  may  study  a  multitude  of  things,  but  one 
thing,  and  if  it  were  the  smallest,  he  should 
know  well.  In  regard  to  the  selection  of  the 
subjects  the  decision  rests  on  the  question  what 
is  most  important  for  the  life  of  the  day  and 
for  the  life  of  humanity.  In  one  thing  that 
is  thoroughly  grasped,  the  mind  seizes  the 
whole  world.  "That  teacher,"  says  Goethe, 
"who  understands  how  to  present  a  single 
noble  deed,  a  single  good  poem,  so  as  to  rouse 


32  The  Century  and  the  School 

the  child's  feeling  performs  more  than  one 
who  teaches  a  whole  series  of  lower  forms  of 
nature  by  shape  and  name;  for  the  whole  re- 
sult is  what  we  may  know  without  all  this 
trouble;  namely,  that  man  bears  in  himself 
more  perfectly  and  more  uniquely  than  all 
other  beings  the  image  of  God.  The  indi- 
vidual may  be  at  liberty  to  busy  himself  with 
what  attracts  him,  what  he  delights  in,  or 
what  he  considers  useful,  but  the  proper  study 
of  humanity  is  man." 

The  school  should  be  of  service  to  the  na- 
tion also.  Without  intermission,  year  after 
year  multitudes  of  emigrants  arrive  at  our 
shores.  The  parents  speak  a  hundred  tongues, 
the  children  soon  speak  but  one,  the  language 
of  this  country.  To  each  child  the  school 
gives  a  new  tongue,  to  each  home  it  sends  a 
youthful  interpreter  of  American  life  and  in- 
stitutions. The  school  is  building  up  the  na- 
tion. The  child  that  has  gone  through  a  pub- 
lic school  is  an  American,  no  matter  where  he 
first  saw  the  light  of  the  sun.  Thus  language, 
in  all  its  forms,  becomes  the  most  important 
study  of  the  school.  It  contains  the  key  to 
all  things,  human  and  divine. 

There  is  another  demand  of  the  nation  on 
the   school.     Lessons    of    history   should   be 


The  Century  and  the  School         33 

taught  and  taught  not  simply  as  chronological 
curiosities,  but  as  truths  appealing  to  thought 
and  to  rouse  and  train  patriotic  feelings  in  the 
young  mind. 

Since  the  school  is  to  prepare  for  life,  both 
subject-matter  and  method  of  instruction 
should  be  living  and  real.  The  printed  page 
is  and  ever  will  be  a  great  medium  for  the  con- 
veying of  information,  but  it  is  not  the  only 
medium.  Besides  mastering  the  printed  page, 
the  child  should  learn  how  to  derive  informa- 
tion from  the  greatest  of  all  sources  of  infor- 
mation, greater  even  than  books,  namely,  the 
world  without  and  the  mind  within.  Words 
remain  empty  caskets  if  left  without  a  knowl- 
edge of  things,  which  the  child  may  gain  by 
using  his  senses  and  by  cultivating  his  power 
of  observation.  Things  then  should  be  studied, 
as  far  as  the  nature  of  the  subject  allows,  and 
not  merely  their  weak  reflection  in  books. 
Without  sense-training  and  the  knowledge  of 
things,  words  have  but  a  dream-like  existence. 
The  school  must  not  be  merely  a  reading-room 
or  recitation  room,  but  must  present,  both  in 
its  selection  of  lessons  and  its  apparatus,  a 
piece  of  reality  and  life. 

In  regard  to  methods  of  teaching,  our  cen- 
tury has  firmly  established  the  principle  of 
3 


34         The  Century  and  the  School 

self-activity  and  industry.  The  pupil  cannot 
be  independent,  he  is  a  child  and  needs  guid- 
ance. He  cannot  be  allowed  to  have  his  own 
way  always.  Nothing  is  more  apt  to  weaken 
the  child  than  the  favorite  maxim,  to  let  the 
child  alone,  to  let  him  do  what  he  pleases.  He 
must  struggle  for  freedom  from  his  own 
whims  and  caprices.  He  must  learn  to  do 
what  he  should  do.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
boy  must  become  independent  intellectually, 
and,  for  this  reason,  he  must  learn  to  find 
knowledge  in  the  objective  world  by  his  own 
eyes.  Knowledge  must  be  conquered,  in  order 
to  be  wholly  possessed.  The  teacher  may 
guard  the  pupil  against  hurtful  errors,  he  may 
point  out  to  him  the  road  to  knowledge,  he 
may  lead  him,  but  he  must  not  attempt  to  carry 
him.  Without  the  charm  of  self-activity 
even  the  new  toy  ceases  to  be  of  interest  to  the 
child.  In  the  process  of  learning,  therefore, 
the  mind  of  the  pupil  should  not  be  in  the 
attitude  of  receiving,  but  rather  in  that  of 
grasping  knowledge,  Schopenhauer  says 
bluntly,  but  truly:  "Truth  that  is  received 
merely  and  committed  to  memory,  sticks  to 
man's  organization  like  an  artificial  limb,  a 
false  tooth,  a  wax  nose.  .  .  .  But  knowledge 
gained  by  one's  own  thinking  resembles  the 


The  Century  and  the  School  35 

natural  limb;  it  alone  belongs  to  us  fully." 
The  century  has  a  democratic,  equalizing, 
and  harmonizing  tendency,  and  the  school 
partakes  of  it.  The  increase  in  the  facilities 
of  intercommunication  gradually  effaces  the 
external  differences  between  nations-,  and 
dulls  the  sense  of  the  individual  in  regard  to 
these  distinctions.  Here  again  the  school  is 
guided  by  the  spirit  of  the  century.  No 
caste,  no  social  barriers  which  separate  man 
from  man  are  recognized  in  the  school.  The 
school  unites  in  its  precincts  the  children  of 
the  rich  and  of  the  poor,  of  all  classes  of 
society,  of  all  nationalities  and  of  all  creeds; 
all  receive  the  same  education.  Education 
has  become  the  temple  of  the  nation;  all  be- 
lieve in  it,  all  are  united  in  its  support;  in  its 
walls  dwells  the  whole  future  generation. 
Everywhere  becomes  apparent  the  tendency 
to  efface  unreal  distinctions,  and  to  make  the' 
individual  the  image  of  the  noblest  features 
of  humanity.  The  school  has  become  the 
most  universal  of  all  human  institutions.  In 
all  of  them  there  are  divisions,  in  it  there  is 
none.  Education  embraces  with  the  same 
love  Jew  and  Gentile,  for  it  sees  the  type  of 
humanity  in  each  child. 

Let  us  devote  a  moment  to  that  side  of  edu- 


36  The  Century  and  the  School 

cation  which  no  age  can  transform,  and  no 
century  can  alter;  to  that  side  of  education 
which  does  not  prepare  for  the  macrocosm  of 
life  without,  but  which  seeks  to  build  up  a 
world  within;  that  schooling  which  educates 
man  not  for  others,  but  for  himself,  and  which 
teaches  him  to  find  happiness  in  himself  and 
in  his  deeds.  Religion  is  taught  by  church 
and  pulpit,  but  the  school  cannot  remain  idle 
in  the  work  of  ethical  education. 

The  school,  it  has  been  said,  should  edu- 
cate for  life.  Man's  life,  however,  glitters 
in  double  colors.  He  lives  a  life  within  and 
a  life  without.  His  eye  sees  the  sun  of  the 
world,  but  deep  in  his  heart  rise  the  stars  of 
his  own  fate.  The  struggle  for  existence 
which  life  brings  with  it  is  not  always  a 
physical  struggle;  it  may  be  a  strife  for 
spiritual  treasures,  for  unsullied  name  and 
untarnished  honor,  a  struggle  for  ethical 
existence. 

The  deepest  soul  of  man  must  become  the 
anchoring  ground  of  the  truth  that  man's 
higher  nature  must  not  be  allowed  to  suffer  in 
the  struggle  and  in  the  race  for  gain.  Higher 
than  the  treasures  of  the  world  he  must  learn 
to  esteem  justice  and  truth;  higher  than 
worldly  gain  the  love  of  home  and  kindred, 


The  Century  and  the  School  37 

of  neighbor  and  friend,  and  faith  and  fidelity 
to  the  state. 

These  teachings  school  and  family  must 
foster,  and  engrave  them  in  the  soul  of  the 
child  so  that  they  sink  deep  into  the  innermost 
nature  of  the  man.  The  life  of  man  is  a  strug- 
gle for  better  days  toward  which  hope  beck- 
ons with  a  smile.  All  hunt  for  treasures, 
which  few  only  find.  Unmixed  happiness  is 
a  rare  guest  in  the  house  of  man,  but  disap- 
pointment and  care  come  like  the  days  of  the 
year.  We  cannot  escape  the  sorrows  of  life, 
for  we  carry  them  with  us. 

"  Behind  the  rider  sitteth  dark -faced  care, 
And  with  the  sailor  sails  she  through  the  waves." 

If  thus  life  mingles  light  and  shadow,  if 
happiness  cannot  be  found  in  market  and 
street,  education  must  teach  the  child  to  find 
content  and  happiness  where  alone  they  will 
not  flee — in  his  own  heart.  A  hand  ready 
to  help,  a  contented  mind,  an  appreciation  of 
those  treasures  that  are  higher  than  life  itself, 
this  is  the  ethical  task  which  the  century 
demands  from  the  school. 


MORALITY  AND  EDUCATION 

Morality  and  intelligence  are  closely  con- 
nected. This  does  not  mean  that  an  intelli- 
gent man  is  always  moral,  nor  that  a  person, 
in  order  to  be  moral,  must  have  attained  a 
high  degree  of  intelligence.  Both  proposi- 
tions would  be  obviously  untrue.  Still  there 
can  be  no  morality  without  the  gift  of  intel- 
ligence. The  animal,  because  it  is  devoid  of 
personality  and  reason,  is  morally  irrespon- 
sible. As  long  as  the  infant  has  not  arrived 
at  the  age  of  reason,  he  is  incapable  of  moral 
or  immoral  action.  The  insane  person, 
through  his  loss  of  reason,  is  placed  beyond 
the  sphere  of  morality.  Sin  cannot  have  a 
beginning  in  the  world  until  man  has  eaten 
from  the  tree  of  knowledge. 

While  the  connection  between  intelligences 
and  morality  is  evident,  there  is,  on  the  other 
hand,  the  fact  that  the  education  of  the  head 
does  not  run  in  a  line  exactly  parallel  with 
the  training  of  the  heart,  and  the  development 
of  intelligence  does  not  carry  with  it  a  cor- 
responding progress  in  morals.     Rousseau  as- 

38 


Morality  and  Education  39 

serted  in  his  famous  Dijon  prize  essay  that 
the  progress  in  science  and  art  contributed 
nothing  to  the  purification  of  morals.  The 
question  whether  the  advance  of  knowledge 
has  been  accompanied  by  a  corresponding  de- 
gree of  moral  progress  has  been  discussed 
frequently,  and  is  not  likely  to  be  closed. 

With  every  intellectual  conception  of  right, 
there  is  inseparably  connected  the  idea  of  the 
undeniable  duty  of  doing  what  is  known  to  be 
right.  The  living  connection  between  know- 
ing what  is  right  and  willing  it,  between  moral 
intelligence  and  moral  intention  is  obvious. 
The  absolute  and  last  bases  in  intelligence 
which  morality  must  necessarily  have,  is  the 
distinction  between  right  and  wrong,  and  the 
conception  of  right  doing  as  an  imperative 
duty  and  hence  a  constant  intention  of  the 
soul.  An  action  in  order  to  be  moral  must 
flow  from  a  moral  intention.  Dr.  Johnson 
said:  "The  morality  of  an  action  depends 
upon  the  motive  from  which  we  act.  If  I 
fling  half  a  crown  to  a  beggar  with  intention 
to  break  his  head,  and  he  picks  it  up  and  buys 
victuals  with  it,  the  physical  effect  is  good, 
but  with  respect  to  me  the  action  is  very 
wrong." 

With  all  this  intimate  connection  between 


40         The  Century  and  the  School 

intelligence  and  morality,  there  is  a  bridge 
between  the  knowledge  and  intention,  on  one 
side,  and  action,  on  the  other,  which  must  be 
passed  to  constitute  a  moral  deed.  The  moral 
frailty  of  human  life  consists  not  so  much  in 
not  knowing  what  is  right,  nor  in  the  lack  of 
a  genial  and  very  general  intention  to  do  the 
right  thing,  but  in  failing  to  join  the  action  to 
the  intention,  in  given  cases.  To  know  what 
is  right  is  evidently  not  morality,  nor  is, 
strictly  speaking,  doing  what  is  right  moral- 
ity, because  when  such  deed  is  merely  acci- 
dental and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  will  of 
the  person,  it  is  deprived  of  its  moral  element. 
Moral  action  combines  knowledge  of  the 
right  and  the  intention  to  act  in  accordance 
with  such  knowledge.  Connected  with  intel- 
ligence on  one  side,  morality  is  connected 
with  action  on  the  other.  There  can  be  no 
morality  if  it  remains  a  matter  of  contempla- 
tion. Good  intentions  are  important  as  the 
beginning  of  morality,  but  if  they  find  no 
fruition  in  action  they  may  be  the  cheap  pride 
of  a  soul  that  is  on  the  road  to  perdition.  In 
active  life  alone  can  moral  virtues  arise. 

Not  every  kind  of  activity  has  the  moral 
element  in  it.  The  moral  element  does  not 
appear  when  man  is  dealing  with  things,  but 


Morality  and  Education  41 

rather  in  his  dealings  with  other  human 
beings.  One  of  the  earliest  views  of  the  nature 
of  virtue  is  Aristotle's,  who  defined  it  as  "a 
proficiency  in  willing  what  is  in  conformity 
to  reason."  He  believed  that  virtue  might 
be  developed  from  potentiality  to  actuality, 
which  is  to  say  from  a  possibility  of  a  virtuous 
life  to  a  virtuous  life  in  fact,  through  constant 
practical  action  alone.  Morality  is  insepa- 
rably connected  with  action.  Aristotle  has  this 
connection  of  virtue  and  moral  habit  in  mind 
when  he  says  that  the  word  ethics,  which  de- 
notes the  principles  of  moral  virtues,  is  prob- 
ably derived  from  a  similar  word  meaning 
custom,  since  it  is  only  by  repeated  acts  that 
a  moral  habit  can  be  acquired.  In  Aristotle's 
definition  there  is  already  contained  the  ap- 
preciation of  the  value  of  habits  of  life  that 
tend  in  the  direction  of  virtue.  The  educa- 
tional transition  from  unreasoning  habit  to 
conscious  moral  action  in  human  life  may  be 
made  through  the  early  compulsory  practice 
of  a  virtue  commanded  by  external  force.  The 
early  habit,  originally  acquired  through  the 
compulsion  of  parent  and  educator  may,  in 
the  end,  become  the  cherished  and  revered 
object  of  the  free  individual  will.  There  is 
profound  wisdom  in  the  saying  of  Hamlet: 


42  The  Century  and  the  School 

"Assume  a  virtue,  if  you  have  it  not. 
That  monster,  custom,  who  all  sense  doth  eat — 
Of  habits  evil — is  angel  yet  in  this, 
That  to  the  use  of  actions  fair  and  good 
He  likewise  gives  a  frock  or  livery, 
That  aptly  is  put  on.     Refrain  tonight ; 
And  that  shall  lend  a  kind  of  easiness 
To  the  next  abstinence  :  the  next  more  easy  ; 
For  use  can  almost  change  the  stamp  of  nature, 
And  master  thus  the  devil,  or  throw  him  out 
With  wondrous  potency." 

Morality  and  Institutional  Life 

While  morality  assumes  three  directions, 
namely,  towards  self,  towards  others  and 
towards  God,  its  rise  as  a  factor  of  human  life 
seems  to  be  more  intimately  connected  with 
the  rise  of  human  society.  It  is  only  when 
man  has  intimate  intercourse  with  others  that 
the  moral  sentiment  will  be  developed.  Sewall 
says  that  morality  is  the  relation  between  per- 
sons, not  between  persons  and  things. 

As  long  as  man  lived  in  a  savage  condition 
morality  can  hardly  be  said  to  have  existed, 
because  the  hand  of  the  savage  is  raised 
against  every  other  not  in  immediate  family 
or  tribal  connection.  Morality  begins  with 
the  beginning  of  institutional  life.  With  the 
advent  of  tribal  organization  among  the  un- 
civilized nations,  their  first  code  of  ethics  must 
have  had  a  beginning. 


Morality  and  Education  43 

Not  only  is  institutional  life  the  condition 
of  the  beginning  of  morality,  but  family,  state, 
society  and  church  continue  to  promote  its 
development.  That  the  state  is,  in  itself,  a 
moral  agency,  even  the  ancients  recognized, 
and  the  middle  ages,  in  their  vs^isest  repre- 
sentatives reiterated  the  same  conclusion.  In 
Plato's  ethical  doctrines  general  happiness 
W2LS  shown  to  flow  only  from  the  general  good. 
The  ethical  aim  with  him  was  to  strive 
towards  resemblance  to  God,  in  whom  moral 
intelligence,  moral  will,  and  moral  action 
were  identical.  The  divine  will,  therefore, 
which  the  individual  should  study,  Plato 
found  inscribed  in  the  state  as  well  as  in  the 
human  conscience;  he  held  that  in  the  insti- 
tutions of  the  state  the  moral  law  was  written 
in  larger  letters  than  in  the  individual  mind. 
Dante,  too,  connected  private  and  public 
morality  with  institutional  life.  The  fearful 
depravity  of  society  during  his  age  he  attrib- 
uted directly  to  the  degeneracy  of  civil  and 
political  government,  and  expected  a  revival 
of  public  morality  from  regeneration  of 
institutional  life. 

All  moral  training  naturally  takes  the  two 
directions  of  repression  and  of  stimulation. 
There  is  a  third  higher  element,  that  of  a  self- 


44         The  Century  and  the  School 

poised  rational  and  moral  will,  identifying 
itself  with  the  moral  law.  To  moral  action 
and  self-denial  it  adds  the  insight  that  in 
these  two  is  found  the  eternal  law  of  God  and 
the  universal  will  of  the  individual  soul. 
Moral  action  precedes,  full  moral  insight 
must  follow.  Repression  and  stimulation, 
the  spiritual  "Thou  shalt  not"  and  "Thou 
shalt",  form  the  everlasting  phases  of  moral 
reflection.  In  the  schoolroom  the  "don't"  and 
the  "do"  alternate.  Dante  in  speaking  of 
the  moral  influence  of  institutional  life  illus- 
trates restraint  and  stimulation  in  image  of 
bridle  and  spur.  Coleridge  speaks  of  Chris- 
tian ethics  and  their  definition  in  a  similar 
way.  "What  the  duties  of  morality  are,  the 
apostle  instructs  the  believer  in  full,  compri- 
sing them  under  the  two  heads  of  negative  and 
positive;  negative,  to  keep  himself  pure  from 
the  world;  and  positive,  beneficence  from 
loving-kindness,  that  is,  love  of  his  fellow-men 
(his  kind)  as  himself.  Last  and  highest  come 
the  spiritual,  comprising  all  the  truths,  acts 
and  duties,  that  have  an  especial  reference  to 
the  timeless,  the  permanent,  the  eternal,  to  the 
sincere  love  of  the  true  as  truth,  of  the  good  as 
good,  and  of  God  as  both  in  one. 
While  in  the  consideration  of  the  principles 


Morality  and  Education  45 

of  morality  we  found  it  based  on  the  presup- 
position of  intelligence,  in  the  moral  training 
of  the  child  the  processes  seem  reversed.  All 
moral  instruction  appealing  to  intelligence  is 
preceded  by  fixed  moral  habits  and  years  of 
practice  in  moral  action.  It  is,  in  fact,  the 
latest  step  in  moral  training  that  the  indivi- 
dual is  led  to  conceive  that  w^hat  was  first  done 
by  habit  and  custom,  perhaps  enforced  by  dis- 
cipline, is  an  inviolable  moral  law  to  which 
absolute  obedience  is  a  duty.  As  a  further 
step  in  the  growth  of  moral  consciousness,  the 
human  being  discovers  that  the  moral  law 
coming  from  without  is  reflected  and  echoed 
by  his  own  soul  and  conscience  within.  He 
finds  that  his  best  self,  his  strongest  and  most 
persistent  will,  tends,  unbidden,  in  the  same 
direction  as  the  eternal  commandment.  His 
will  has  become  identical  with  the  divine  will. 
When  man  in  acting  the  moral  commandment 
acts  his  own  individual  will  he  has  attained 
freedom. 

This  is  the  thought  in  Tennyson's  lines, 
"Our  wills  are  ours  to  make  them  thine." 
This  seems  to  be  the  meaning  of  Aristotle's 
peculiar  doctrine  of  the  dianoetic  or  intel- 
lectual virtues  which  he  explains  as  being 
science,  art  and  reason,  while  he  calls  justice 


46         The  Century  and  the  School 

and  the  ordinary  moral  habits  of  civic  life  the 
ethical  virtues.  To  rise  above  the  mere  prac- 
tice of  virtues,  and  find  in  moral  action  the 
divine  commandment,  as  well  as  the  impulse 
of  our  best  reason,  is  the  highest  spiritual 
phase  of  ethics. 

If  we  turn,  for  a  moment,  towards  the  steps 
by  which  the  moral  movement  may  be  carried 
on  as  a  process  of  self-education,  we  find  that 
it  implies  the  subjugation  of  the  natural  self 
to  the  purposes  of  civilized  life  and  of  ra- 
tional aims.  The  subordination  to  the  divine 
will  is  not  simply  an  abstract  or  theological 
thought,  but  it  means  the  practical  moral  task 
of  subordinating  the  individual  to  the  general 
law  in  the  human  world,  which  finds  its 
strongest  expression  perhaps  in  institutional 
life.  It  is  more,  however,  than  mere  subor- 
dination, for  this  has  an  element  of  passivity 
in  it,  which  is  contrary  to  the  characteristic  of 
morality,  as  a  form  of  activity.  Besides  the 
duty  of  subordination  to  the  general  law, 
there  is  the  other  moral  duty,  of  at  least  equal 
value,  of  giving  real  existence  externally  to 
the  promptings  of  the  moral  self  within. 
Identification  of  the  human  will  with  the 
divine  implies  that  the  former  should  be 
actively  engaged  in  creative,  practical  work 


Morality  and  Education  47 

and  enlist  its  energies  persistently  in  the  serv- 
ice of  the  true,  the  beautiful  and  the  good,  so 
that  they  may  be  realized  in  the  life  of  man 
and  his  institutions. 

The  preceding  exposition  has  attempted  to 
show  that  morality  is  closely  connected  with 
action,  as  well  as  with  will  and  intelligence. 
It  has  laid  stress  on  the  dependence  of  moral- 
ity on  institutional  life.  We  shall  need  these 
premises  in  discussing  the  question  as  to  the 
means  school  education  has  at  its  command 
in  inculcating  morality. 

When  the  moral  influences  of  school  teach- 
ing are  discussed,  some  stress  is  usually  laid 
on  the  merely  external  and  formal  influence 
which  is  found  in  the  silence  that  prevails 
in  the  schoolroom,  on  the  regularity  and 
punctuality  of  attendance,  and  the  like.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  each  of  these  and  a  mul- 
titude of  other  school  practices  imply  lessons 
of  self-control,  which  cannot  fail  to  have  a 
moral  tendency.  But,  after  all,  these  prac- 
tices are  merely  external,  and  are  by  no  means 
characteristics  peculiar  to  the  school  alone. 
Regularity  and  punctuality  form  part  of  a 
large  number  of  occupations,  but  it  is  never 
claimed  that  they  make  these  occupations  any 
more  moral  than  they  would  be  without  them. 


48  The  Century  and  the  School 

Silence  may  accompany  sin  and  crime;  it  iS 
the  practice  of  thief  and  boodler,  and  has, 
evidently,  in  itself,  no  inherent  moral  mean- 
ing. While  conceding  that  the  indirect  effect 
of  these  so-called  schoolroom  virtues  tends 
towards  self-control,  and  that  habits  of  self- 
control  have  a  moral  tendency,  it  is  neverthe- 
less true  that  their  moral  value  is  relative. 

School,  however,  may  exert  a  moral  in- 
fluence through  its  government.  It  is  an 
organization  in  which  many  join  hands  in  a 
common  purpose,  and  unite  their  efforts  in 
common  activity.  A  well-organized  school 
is  a  commonwealth  and  has  an  institutional 
life  which  makes  it  resemble  (on  a  small 
scale,  yet  large  enough  for  the  child)  the  great 
institutions  of  society  and  state.  In  view  of 
'  the  frequently  expressed  opinion  that  the 
school  in  order  to  have  any  moral  influence 
whatever,  must  embody  some  formal  lessons 
in  morality  in  its  curriculum,  it  will  be  well 
to  dwell  for  a  moment  on  the  moral  influence 
which  the  school  exerts  by  its  organization, 
aside  from  the  influence  of  direct  intellectual 
or  moral  lessons.  With  the  beginning  of 
school  instruction  two  new  elements  are  in- 
troduced into  the  child's  life;  a  new  purpose 
and  a  new  social  relation.     Until  then  his 


Morality  and  Education  49 

principal  duty  had  been  to  behave  himself. 
His  life  was  largely  self-centered.  Now  he 
is  taught  to  subordinate  his  self  to  some  exter- 
nally imposed  duty.  He  is  expected  to  show 
devotion  to  the  task  of  learning.  It  is  a 
characteristic  of  the  period  of  school  educa- 
tion that  the  child  must  learn  to  forego  his 
childish  inclinations  and  give  himself  to  the 
first  steady,  serious  work  of  life. 

"Self"  no  longer  thrones  supreme  in  the 
child-soul;  he  learns  the  first  lesson  of  sub- 
ordination to  the  purposes  of  life. 

The  home  life  of  the  child  which  precedes 
the  school  is  based  on  the  ethical  elements  of 
natural  affection  and  love.  Love  and  obe- 
dience form  the  ethical  circle  of  family  life. 
The  parent's  will  is  the  child's  law.  When 
the  child  enters  the  school  his  individuality 
is  brought  into  contact  with  his  equals.  The 
conditions  which  originally  caused  the  rise  of 
morality  in  the  history  of  the  race  are  here 
reproduced,  for,  in  a  measure,  the  child  in 
going  to  school  becomes  a  factor  in  a  kind  of 
communal  life.  To  his  own  will  there  are 
opposed  the  limits  of  other  wills,  and  he  has 
to  respect  the  rights  of  their  individuality. 
His  subjective  inclination  can  no  longer  rule 
his  actions ;  he  meets  an  objective  law  to  which 


50         The  Century  and  the  School 

the  government  and  discipline  of  the  schpzil 
enforce  obedience.  He  gets  the  first  invaiu- 
able  experience  of  the  power  and  influence  of 
public  opinion.  He  learns  gradually  to  ad- 
just himself  to  standards  of  deportment,  and 
to  comply  with  rules  of  action,  which  are  the 
same  for  all.  He  learns  to  make  his  conduct 
conform  to  a  universal  law;  this  training, 
imparted  in  many  ways  in  every  school,  en- 
forces the  principles  which  lie  at  the  very  root 
of  all  moral  action. 

The  pupil's  relation  to  the  teacher  is  sur- 
rounded by  moral  influences.  In  the  eyes  of 
the  child  the  teacher  is  the  objective  embodi- 
ment of  the  general  law  to  which  he  is  bound 
to  yield  obedience.  Nor  is  this  simply  a  ficti- 
tious relation.  In  the  public  school  teacher, 
appointed  by  the  representatives  of  the  people, 
paid  by  the  whole  community,  the  authority 
of  the  state  is  represented  as  a  matter  of  fact, 
and  the  child  feels  instinctively  that  in  the 
order  and  discipline  of  the  school  there  is  a 
reflection  of  the  law  of  the  community.  The 
full  moral  effect  of  the  school,  as  representing 
the  child's  first  contact  with  institutional  life, 
is  best  attained  when  the  teacher,  in  directing, 
governing  and  disciplining  his  pupils  subdues 
the  merely  personal  element  of  caprice  in  him- 


Morality  and  Education  51 

self,  and  bases  the  rules  of  conduct  which  he 
lays  down  for  the  individual  child  on  the 
obligation  of  the  latter  to  respect  the  rights 
of  others.  Even  the  petty  schoolroom  offenses, 
such  as  talking,  disorder,  can,  as  a  rule,  be 
shown  to  be  infringements  of  the  rights  of  the 
other  children,  who  have  a  claim  to  the  whole 
time  of  the  teacher  and  the  full  benefits  of  the 
school.  Respect  for  the  rights  of  the  school 
community  and  subordination  of  individual 
caprice  to  the  needs  of  the  common  task  are 
the  central  ideas  that  should  underlie  the  dis- 
cipline of  a  room. 

School  government,  however,  carries  the 
moral  training  of  the  child  beyond  this  first 
stage.  At  the  beginning,  the  absolute  force 
of  the  universal  law  is  represented  through 
the  public  opinion  of  the  class,  and  the 
authority  of  the  teacher.  As  the  child's 
power  of  reasoning  and  his  intelligence  de- 
velop, he  sees  in  the  rules  of  conduct,  in  the 
order  that  has  been  imposed  by  the  teacher's 
authority,  the  necessary  conditions  for  the 
progress  in  the  lessons  which  he  desires  to 
make.  When  advancement  in  the  studies  has 
become  the  child's  delight  and  his  serious 
purpose  and  intention  and  pleasure,  the  rules 
of  order  that  were  first  imposed  on  him  ex- 


52  The  Century  and  the  School 

ternally  become  the  objects  of  his  own  wish. 
He  identifies  his  individual  will  with  the 
general  law  of  the  school,  and  this  mental 
attitude  when  once  attained  marks  an  im- 
portant epoch  in  moral  training.  There  is  a 
subjugation  of  the  naturalself,  of  the  desire 
to  play,  and  of  caprice,  involved  in  the  devo- 
tion to  a  task  imposed  by  the  school.  There 
is  constant  self-abnegation,  the  substitution  of 
superior  aims  and  duties  for  individual 
.caprice.  While  in  this  respect  the  school 
does  not  differ  from  any  other  community 
organized  for  the  purpose  of  joint  work,  it 
certainly,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  is  the  earliest 
opportunity  which  the  child  has  for  this  im- 
portant kind  of  moral  training. 

The  incidental  virtues  of  school  work, 
namely,  the  habit  of  application  and  of  in- 
dustry, rank  high  in  the  agencies  that  shape  a 
moral  life,  As  idleness  is  the  mother  of  vice, 
so  industry  is  one  of  the  elements  of  a  noble 
life.  For  this  reason  school  government,  in 
enforcing  habits  of  industry,  not  merely  looks 
towards  the  accomplishment  of  the  tasks  of 
the  day,  but  it  builds  by  degrees  character 
and  moral  personality.  If  the  school  could 
give  nothing  else  to  the  child  but  this  fixed 
habit  of  steady  application  to  work  and  duty, 


Morality  and  Education  53 

this  alone  would  constitute  it  a  moral  agency 
of  much  importance. 

The  school  exerts  a_ moral  influence  through 
the  resemblance  which  its  little  community 
and  organization  bears  to  the  great  spiritual 
institutions  of  man.  There  is,  however,  a 
more  direct  influence.  Life  in  the  school  it- 
self, with  its  many  phases,  presents  oppor- 
tunity for  incidental  yet  important  moral 
training.  In  antithesis  to  the  old  Roman  say- 
ing that  we  should  educate  our  children  not 
for  school,  but  for  life,  some  modern  teachers 
have  replied  that  school  does  not  educate  for 
life,  but  is  life.  This  modern  idea,  striking 
as  it  is,  seems  only  partly  true.  School  is 
life,  but  school  is  not  all  life.  It  is  not  even 
all  of  the  child's  life.  It  is  but  a  fragment 
of  life  compared  with  the  larger  life  which 
the  child  is  leading  at  home,  and  will  lead, 
after  leaving  school,  in  the  social  and  civic 
world.  School  life  is  but  a  fragment  com- 
pared with  the  life  pulsating  beyond  its  walls. 
School  education  as  far  as  it  goes,  is  life,  and 
should  be  conducted  with  the  observance  of 
every  virtue  for  whose  display  there  is  any 
opportunity.  Love  of  truth,  kindly  honesty 
in  opinion,  statement  and  action,  mutual  trust, 
sympathy,  good  will,  unselfishness,  are  factors 


54         The  Century  and  the  School 

for  whose  practice  every  day,  every  hour  of 
school  education  give  opportunity.  The  obli- 
gation to  teach  and  to  study  these  lessons  is 
important  for  teacher  and  pupil  alike.  Moral 
lessons,  like  many  others,  can  be  taught  much 
better  objectively  and  by  example  than 
through  precept.  No  greater  gift  can  a  kind 
Providence  bestow  on  a  young  being  than  to 
lead  it  to  a  schoolroom  where  some  good, 
strong  man  or  woman,  truthful,  honest,  can- 
did, yet  sympathetic,  is  the  soul  of  the  lit- 
tle community.  The  teacher's  individuality 
creates  the  spirit  of  the  school,  and  the  latter 
is  chief  among  the  agencies  of  moral  educa- 
tion. 

While  the  teacher's  naturally  imperfect  in- 
dividuality imposes  a  very  close  limit  for  the 
influence  of  his  personal  example,  the  recog- 
nition of  the  grave  moral  responsibility  of  his 
position,  of  the  value  of  example  in  school 
management,  constitutes  a  potent  call  on  every 
conscientious  teacher  to  strive  for  a  healthy 
tone  in  his  school,  through  his  own  self-con- 
trol and  good  aspirations.  Whatever  quiet 
and  unobtrusive  but  steady  moral  self-im- 
provement the  teacher  is  capable  of,  will  tell 
on  the  moral  condition  of  his  room.  Of  all 
the  agencies  of  ethical  education  there  is  none 


Morality  and  Education  55 

as  potent  as  the  moral  atmosphere  of  the 
schoolroom,  which  the  strong  manhood  or 
womanhood  of  the  teacher  can  create.  For 
five  hours  every  day  year  after  year,  the  child 
lives  in  the  environment  which  the  teacher  has 
created.  As  far  as  the  school  is  life,  it  should 
be  true,  sympathetic,  cheerful  and  active. 
There  should  be  a  strong  moral  undercurrent 
which  does  not  find  expression  in  words,  but 
in  every  practice. 

In  the  administration  of  discipline  the 
principles  mentioned  before,  that  each  child 
must  respect  the  rights  of  the  community!, 
should  be  discernible  in  the  teacher's  ruling, 
blame  or  punishment,  and  the  element  of 
personal  caprice  should  be  kept  in  the  back- 
ground. 

Not  only  respect  to  others,  but  love  and 
good  will  are  duties  which  should  be  actively 
practiced  whenever  there  is  an  opportunity. 
This  is  the  sum  of  all  commandments,  and  the 
sum  of  all  moral  teaching  through  school  life. 

The  negative  side  of  moral  training  in  the 
schoolroom  may  be  considered  for  a  mom.ent. 
Wrong  makes  its  appearance  in  the  school- 
room as  well  as  elsewhere.  The  firm  repres- 
sion of  evil  tendency  without  anger,  but  also 
without  undue  temporizing  is  as  necessary  in 


56  The  Century  and  the  School 

school  government  as  love  and  sympathy. 
Certain  systems  of  schools  have  at  times  been 
denounced  for  tendencies  morally  weakening 
because  these  cities  have  abandoned  corporal 
punishment.  The  influence  therein  implied 
seems  by  no  means  clear.  Corporal  punish- 
ment, instead  of  appealing  to  intelligence, 
appeals  to  fear  of  pain,  and  constitutes  the 
very  lowest  educational  influence.  It  may  be 
necessary  to  subdue  brutal  nature  by  blows. 
It  may,  at  times,  be  a  short  cut  to  reach  the 
obstinate  perversity  of  spoiled  children.  It 
may  be,  in  some  cases,  the  influence  to  which 
children  have  been  accustomed  by  home  train- 
ing. But,  on  the  other  hand,  we  are  told  by 
experts  that  even  in  the  animal  world,  the 
highest  results  of  training  are  not  brought 
about  by  beating,  but  by  impassionate  insist- 
ence and  wise  management. 

In  the  repression  of  the  evil  tendencies  that 
show  themselves  in  the  schoolroom,  there 
should  be  a  certain  valuation  of  the  degree  and 
the  kind  of  wrong  calling  for  treatment. 
Common  schoolroom  offenses  which  mischief, 
love  of  activity,  and  other  causes,  bring  about, 
should  be  treated  as  breaches  of  order  and 
propriety,  and  not  as  moral  obliquities.  Ly- 
ing, deceit,  fraud,  and  similar  offenses,  how- 


Morality  and  Education  57 

ever,  require  an  entirely  different  method, 
and  the  impression  should  be  left  on  the  mind 
of  the  child  that  these  offenses  are  a  cause  of 
sorrow  for  child  and  teacher  alike.  Not  un- 
frequently  these  sins  are  the  consequences  of 
conditions  which  the  teacher  might  have  fore- 
stalled, of  temptations  and  environments 
which  he  might  have  removed. 

Through  the  regular  routine  of  school  life, 
and  the  observance  of  the  incidental  virtues 
which  form  part  of  every  kind  of  life,  incip- 
ient moral  habits  are  formed,  which  partake 
of  the  character  of  all  customs  that  are  first 
engendered  by  external  influences.  As  life 
grows,  character  gradually  absorbs  these  single 
habits,  and  makes  them  part  of  the  young 
personality. 


WHAT  IS  A  FAD? 

There  has  been  a  widespread  discussion  in 
regard  to  what  has  been  called  "fads  in  edu- 
cation." The  charge  is  made  that  public 
schools  undertake  to  teach  too  much  of  what 
is  not  necessary,  and  thereby  neglect  the  essen- 
tials. While  all  agree  that  fads  should  have 
no  place  in  public  education,  there  is  the 
widest  possible,  difiference  in  regard  to  the 
question,  "What  is  a  fad?"  A  school  fad 
might  be  defined  as  a  persistent  departure 
from  educational  common  sense.  Single  er- 
rors constitute  no  fad.  A  fad  is  a  defect 
which  is  systematized.  It  is^^rror  masking 
as  achievement  or  progress. 

The  Fad  of  "Superfluity" 

Some  well-meaning  and  intelligent  critics 
of  the  public  schools  charge  that  education 
has  run  mad  by  including  many  superfluities 
into  its  course.  The  so-called  "newer  studies" 
— namely,  drawing,  music,  nature-study,  and 
art — have  to  bear  the  brunt  of  these  attacks. 
The  writer  of  this  paper  sent  a  letter  of  in- 

s8 


What  is  a  Fad?  59 

quiry  to  many  people.  The  answers  have 
been  used  to  some  extent  in  this  paper.  The 
president  of  an  association  of  parents  and 
patrons  of  public  schools  writes:  "In  my 
opinion,  the  first  school  superintendent  who 
rises  to  the  occasion  and  has  these  'fads'  dis- 
continued in  the  public  schools  will  win  for 
himself  fame  beyond  any  other  measure  he 
can  advocate."  He  explains  that  he  refers 
to  drawing  and  singing. 

These  studies  are  not  fads  in  any  sense  of 
the  word.  It  is  tacitly  assumed  in  such  criti- 
cisms that  it  is  the  sole  function  of  education 
to  prepare  for  some  special  business  of  life. 
Since  only  a  few  children  will  become  artists 
or  musicians,  for  the  great  majority  who  are 
not  to  become  artists  or  musicians  it  is  sup- 
posed that  training  in  drawing  and  music  is 
thrown  away.  This  would  be  an  insuperable 
objection  if  these  studies  did  not  impart  train- 
ing of  human  importance  and  general  edu- 
icational  application.  Education  does  not 
prepare  for  any  special  business  or  vocation, 
but  for  life.  The  cultivation  of  eye  and  hand 
and  taste  is  of  importance  in  all  callings.  The 
educational  universality  of  these  studies  is 
their  defense.  In  this  age  even  an  elementary 
education  should  include  some  of  the  elements 


6o  The  Century  and  the  School 

of  science,  or  the  child  remains  in  brutal 
ignorance  of  the  world  in  which  he  lives. 
Music,  in  the  sense  of  class-singing,  is  an  ele- 
ment of  public  instruction  that  is  underesti- 
mated by  the  thoughtless  only.  Drawing  has 
some  features  of  universal  educational  value 
in  every  school,  and  in  industrial  centers  it 
ranks  among  the  important  studies.  Manual 
training  and  lessons  in  cooking  have  both 
social  and  general  educational  value;  their 
aim  never  has  been  to  train  carpenters  or 
cooks.  While  these  studies  find  strong  advo- 
cates among  the  thoughtful  in  the  community, 
and  among  the  teachers,  it  is  proper  to  remem- 
ber that  they  may  suffer  by  being  unduly 
magnified  in  a  course  of  instruction.  They 
occupy  a  position  essentially  different  from 
that  of  reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  history, 
and  geography.  They  have  neither  found  such 
universal  adoption,  nor  have  they  been  given 
as  great  a  share  of  time,  nor  have  they  rooted 
so  deeply  in  the  approval  of  public  conscience, 
as  the  older  studies.  Moreover,  they  have  not 
become  fully  ingrafted  or  correlated  with  the 
rest  of  the  schoolroom  work.  As  a  rule,  their 
conduct  lies  in  the  hands  of  supervisors  who 
make  this  specialty  their  whole  work.  In 
such  case  their  adjustment  to  the  claim  of  the 


What  is  a  Fad?  6i 

other  educational  work  is  apt,  at  times,  to  be 
neglected,  and  an  undue  amount  of  time  and 
attention  may  be  exacted  from  teachers  and 
pupils.  These  studies  are  of  the  highest  edu- 
cational value;  they  may  become  fads  if  they 
step  beyond  the  limit  of  their  general  educa- 
tional usefulness. 

Fads  of  Eccentricity 

This  class  of  fads  may  be  made  clearer  by 
an  illustration:  A  few  years  ago  some  person 
suggested  that  the  daily  rotation  of  the  various 
studies  in  the  program  was  objectionable,  and 
that,  instead  of  an  hour  in  arithmetic,  fol- 
lowed by  an  hour  in  geography,  and  perhaps 
an  hour  in  history,  a  different  division  of  time 
was  preferable.  Consequently,  he  undertook 
to  teach  all  the  arithmetic  of  the  school  term 
by  taking  five  weeks'  solid  work  in  arithmetic 
at  the  rate  of  five  hours  a  day.  Even  this  idea 
had  some  followers. 

The  words  "fad,"  "frill,"  "fringe,"  which 
are  used  frequently  as  synonyms,  apply  to  this 
class  with  particular  force.  The  idea  under- 
lying them  seems  to  be  that  of  fashionable 
ornament  in  contrast  with  plain  dress.  The 
idea  of  fad  often  carries  with  it  the  suggestion 
of  personal  vanity,  a  manifest  desire  to  attract 


62  The  Century  and  the  School 

attention  by  appearance  rather  than  by  merit. 
There  is  a  "sport"  with  new  things  which 
takes  possession  of  its  votaries  and  makes  them 
lie  in  wait  for  things  novel  and  strange. 

It  is  characteristic  of  this  kind  of  fads,  as 
well  as  of  others,  that  they  are  launched  into 
the  world  with  liberal  promises  of  the  im- 
portant results  which  they  will  accomplish. 
The  fad's  reason  for  existence  lies  in  the  prom- 
ised achievement  of  the  future  rather  than  in 
the  experience  of  the  past  or  the  needs  of  the 
present. 

Fads  of  Theory 

The  existence  of  fads  in  modern  education 
is  by  no  means  discouraging.  Zeal  and 
enthusiasm  are  in  evidence  in  all  of  them. 
Not  a  few  of  them  arise  from  the  very  wealth 
of  educational  thought  and  from  an  abun- 
dance of  ingenious  theory.  Fads  are  at  times 
evidences  of  great  interest  in  new  educational 
theories  which,  while  not  always  expressed  in 
terms  clear  and  conclusive,  are,  for  that  very 
reason,  for  some  fascinating  and  attractive. 
One  would  imagine  that  the  hopeless  entan- 
glement which  stares  us  in  the  face  in  the  dis- 
cussion of  new  and  old  education,  of  the  new 
studies  and  the  three  R's,  of  prescribed  courses 


What  is  a  Fad?  63 

of  study  or  individual  plans,  should  be  in  it- 
self enough  to  make  the  teacher  withdraw 
from  the  path  leading  into  quagmire,  and 
keep  to  the  broader  road  of  conservative 
teaching.  But  mysticism  never  lacks  disciples. 

Much  error  has  arisen  from  a  mistaken  idea 
of  the  function  of  the  school,  which  I  take  to 
be  the  development  of  power  through  instruc- 
tion in  the  conventional  studies.  Public 
opinion  would  probably  classify  as  a  fad  the 
attempt  to.  "develop  power"  to  the  exclusion 
of  reading,  writing,  and  arithmetic.  School 
education  is  an  unfolding  process.  But  it  is 
more  than  the  unfolding  of  what  is  in  the 
child.  Knowledge  from  without,  and  expe- 
rience and  life  from  without,  must  be  carried 
into  the  child-soul. 

The  child  is  not  the  self-contained  aim  and 
orbit  of  education.  Education  comprises  a 
larger  world.  It  is  not  correct  to  say  that  the 
child  is  educated  for  himself;  he  is  educated 
for  manhood.  He  is  trained,  not  for  what  he 
is,  but  for  what  he  shall  be.  There  are  in  him 
childish  ways  which  must  be  cast  off  and  re- 
jected in  the  process  of  education.  Childish 
life  and  thoughts  are  scaffoldings  which  are 
discarded  as  he  advances.  Education  has  to 
bear  constantly  in  mind  the  idea  that  the  re- 


64  The  Century  and  the  School 

quirements  and  duties  of  adult  life,  the  ideals 
of  true  manhood  and  womanhood,  form  the 
aims  of  child  education.  On  the  other  hand 
the  ways  and  means,  and  the  processes,  of 
education  are  fixed  by  the  natural  conditions 
of  child-life.  The  aim  lies  in  the  future;  the 
means  are  determined  by  present  conditions. 
Childhood  is  naturally  the  happiest  time  of 
life,  but  the  incidental  aim  that  education 
should  make  the  child  happy  would  be  but  a 
poor  substitute  for  the  greater  aim,  namely, 
the  happiness  and  strength  of  the  adiilt.  The 
educator  should  not,  cannot  without  educa- 
tional hazard,  step  down  and  lose  his  own 
identity  in  his  otherwise  proper  endeavor  to 
adjust  himself  to  the  child's  life  and  ways. 
He  must  stand  erect  and  kindly  lead  the  child 
to  walk  with  him  towards  his  future.  He  ad- 
justs himself  to  the  child  so  far  only  as  it  is 
necessary  to  introduce  him  to  the  serious  pur- 
poses of  education.  School  education  should 
be  childlike  in  its  simplicity  and  clearness; 
to  make  it  childish  in  tone  or  subject-matter 
would  be  a  fad. 

Whenever  school  education  separates  itself 
from  instruction,  and  "development  of  facul- 
ties" is  divorced  from  the  pursuit  of  serious 
study,   then  the   fad  makes  its   appearance. 


What  is  a  Fad?  65 

Among  many  of  the  great  sayings  of  Herbart, 
none  is  more  important  than  his  remark:  "I 
confess  that  I  can  not  realize  education  apart 
from  instruction." 

While  the  older  methods  of  education  had 
to  be  reminded  constantly  that  "all  work  and 
no  play  makes  a  dull  boy,"  there  are  some 
well-meaning,  progressive,  and  vigorous 
teachers  who  must  be  told  constantly  that  "all 
play  and  no  work  will  not  make  a  man." 

A  reliable  eyewitness  gives  the  following 
account  of  a  visit  she  paid  to  a  room  in  a  large 
school:  The  morning  began  with  what  is 
called  an  "observation  lesson."  The  children 
were  encouraged  to  relate  what  they  thought 
noteworthy  of  their  experience  of  the  previous 
evening.  One  of  the  children  related  that 
they  had  an  evening  party  at  home,  that  they 
lived  upstairs,  and  that  they  had  carried  up 
two  kegs  of  beer ;  that  when  they  were  through 
with  this  they  had  carried  up  a  keg  of  whisky. 
They  had  a  very  good  time.  The  teacher, 
very  wisely,  said  at  this  stage:  "Now  let  us 
hear  from  some  of  the  other  children."  (I 
beg  to  remind  my  readers  that  this  is  a  report 
of  an  actually  observed  morning.)  The  sec- 
ond series  of  exercises  consisted  in  games  fash- 
ioned somewhat  after  the  kindergarten  games. 
5 


66  The  Century  and  the  School 

The  next  was  the  naming  of  classic  pictures. 
Pictures  pasted  on  cards  (Perry  pictures,  ii 
I  am  not  mistaken)  were  held  up  in  rapid  suc- 
cession, and  the  class  supplied  the  name :  "The 
Pharisee,"  "Correggio's  Madonna,"  "Thor- 
waldsen's  Evening,"  etc.  The  next  exercise 
was  one  in  posing,  the  children  imitating,  by 
the  way  they  stood,  certain  pictures  which 
they  had  seen.  Thus  one  boy  stepped  for- 
ward, looked  about  for  some  object,  took  hold 
of  a  feather  duster,  and  leaning  on  it,  one  end 
of  it  on  the  floor,  he  looked  up  with  a  set 
expression  in  his  face.  The  class  shouted, 
"The  man  with  the  hoe  I"  The  next  exercise 
was  called  "rhythmic  movement."  Ten  chil- 
dren danced  the  Virginia  reel  and  eight  chil- 
dren the  lancers.  The  next  exercise,  finally, 
was  one  in  practical  reading.  A  sentence  was 
exhibited  quickly,  and  the  children  then  gave 
the  words  of  the  sentence.  I  have  no  doubt 
that  the  rest  of  the  day,  after  the  visitor  had 
left,  was  given  to  the  various  traditional  work 
of  the  schools. 

Fads  of  Exaggeration 

Aristotle  defined  virtue  as  a  means  between 
two  extremes.  Thus  he  thought  that  wise 
economy  was  a  virtue,  while  those  who  prac- 


What  is  a  Fad?  67 

ticed  too  much  or  too  little  economy,  the  miser 
and  the  spendthrift,  represented  the  extremes 
of  vice.  In  a  similar  way  the  correct  educa- 
tional practice  or  idea  is  capable  of  abuse  and 
exaggeration,  and  the  result  is  a  fad.  A  fad, 
in  this  sense  of  the  word,  is  a  practice  which 
carries  some  valuable  idea  beyond  reasonable 
limits  and  proper  proportion.  Thus,  Pesta- 
lozzi's  idea  of  objective  teaching  was  a  great 
step  in  the  progress  of  educational  science  and 
practice.  No  lesson  is  more  easily  learned 
than  when  it  can  be  taught  through  the  eye. 
But  the  correct  and  beneficial  principle  of 
objective  teaching  may  be  carried  to  such  an 
extent  that  it  becomes  a  harmful  practice.  In 
arithmetic,  for  instance,  the  real  value  of  the 
study  lies  in  the  power  of  mathematical  infer- 
ence and  deduction.  While  all  arithmetic 
work  begins  with  the  use  of  objects,  and  while 
many  of  the  new  steps,  even  in  advanced  work, 
will  gain  by  objective  illustration,  these  must 
be  discarded  as  soon  as  they  have  answered 
their  purpose,  and  mathematical  reasoning 
must  take  their  place.  Objective  teaching, 
whether  it  be  called  by  Pestalozzi's  old  name 
or  by  the  more  modern  names  of  visualizing 
and  aurizing,  if  carried  to  the  extreme,  may 
become   a  harmful   practice.     Children   are 


68  The  Century  and  the  School 

thinking  beings,  and  it  is  proper  for  the 
teacher  to  take  it  for  granted  that  not  every- 
thing must  be  objectified  and  "visualized" 
and  "aurized."  It  was  the  mistake  of  the  in- 
structor in  a  room  visited  by  one  of  our 
teachers  to  try  to  visualize  the  perfectly  plain 
story  of  the  two  goats  who  tried  to  cross  from 
opposite  directions  a  plank  bridging  a  creek, 
and  began  to  butt  against  each  other.  The 
teacher  "visualized"  the  story  by  selecting  two 
children  to  act  the  part  of  the  goats. 

The  great  aim  in  all  instruction  in  reading, 
from  the  primary  grade  to  the  highest,  is  that 
the  child  should  see  through  the  words  and 
the  forms  of  the  printed  page,  and  have  his 
mind  steadily  fixed  on  the  ideas  to  be  con- 
veyed. The  application  of  the  idea,  however, 
at  present  in  use  in  some'  school  in  one  of  the 
large  cities  is  by  no  means  free  from  objection : 
in  order  to  be  quite  sure  that  the  children  read 
words  instead  of  ideas,  all  reading  aloud  has 
been  abandoned.  The  children  read  silently, 
and  show  that  they  understand  what  they  have 
read  through  oral  and  written  recitation. 

No  more  legitimate  demand  can  be  made 
on  the  school  than  that  of  concentration,  in 
the  sense  that  there  should  be,  as  much  as  pos- 
sible, a  connection  established  between  the 


What  is  a  Fad?  69 

various  branches  of  instruction — that  they 
should  mutually  supplement  each  other.  But 
even  this  valuable  idea  may  become  an  error 
if  carried  beyond  the  limit  of  common-sense. 
A  lady  reported  to  me  the  following  incident: 
A  teacher  who  prided  herself  on  correlating 
all  subjects  in  the  school  curriculum  began 
her  day's  work  with  an  observation  lesson  on 
apples.  This  was  followed  by  a  reading  les- 
son on  apples,  after  which  the  children  took 
their  seats  and  wrote  about  apples.  Next, 
songs  about  apples  were  sung.  Apples  were 
then  divided  and  used  to  teach  fractional 
parts.  As  it  was  now  time  for  drawing,  the 
children  were  sent  to  the  board  to  draw  apples. 
Soon  the  board  was  filled  with  all  kinds  of 
apples,  known  and  unknown  to  the  horticul- 
turist. One  boy,  however,  instead  of  drawing 
an  apple  drew  a  horse.  This  breach  of  dis- 
cipline, or  violation  of  correlation,  could  not 
be  passed  over,  so  he  was  asked  why  he  had 
drawn  a  horse  instead  of  an  apple.  The  boy 
replied:  "Oh,  I'm  tired  of  apples,  and  so  I 
drew  a  horse  to  eat  all  the  apples  up." 

There  is  some  merit  in  the  coordination  of 
studies,  as  well  as  in  concentration.  Each 
study  is,  in  a  measure,  a  complement  and  cor- 
rective of  the  other.     Each  must  stand  related 


70         The  Century  and  the  School 

and  subordinate  to  the  rest.  Each  answers 
an  educational  and  an  objective  purpose. 
Each  cultivates  a  special  kind  of  activity.  If 
any  one  study  is  raised  to  inordinate  impor- 
tance, or  if  it  is  deprived  of  the  corrective 
influence  of  the  other,  harmonious  education 
is  endangered.  Language  ranks  easily  first 
in  the  common-school  course,  yet,  if  literary 
studies  were  exaggerated  without  being  cor- 
rected through  the  touch  with  life,  with  na- 
ture or  through  the  exactness  and  precision  of 
mathematics,  mental  development  would  tend 
towards  the  verbal,  the  fanciful,  the  imagina- 
tive, and  the  dreamy.  Literary  studies,  with 
their  wide  horizon,  their  possible  tendency 
toward  the  imaginative,  the  diffused,  and  the 
indefinite,  need  the  counterbalancing  influ- 
ence of  the  precise  terseness  and  close  deduc- 
tion of  mathematical  studies.  Equipoise  and 
balance  in  the  studies  of  the  curriculum  are 
needed  as  much  as  concentration. 

Origin  of  Fads 

Fads  have  presumably  existed  under  some 
name  or  other  since  the  beginning  of  educa- 
tion, but  their  growth  has  perhaps  been  more 
marked  in  our  own  days  than  in  former  times. 
A  person  fond  of  paradoxes  might  say  that 


What  is  a  Fad?  71 

fifty  years  ago  the  art  of  teaching  consisted  of 
matter  alone,  without  much  method.  The 
learning  of  the  data  of  information  proceeded 
without  the  use  of  much  pedagogical  art.  On 
the  other  hand,  it  might  be  said  of  the  present 
time  that  in  some  places  the  art  of  instruction 
is  all  method  and  little  matter.  The  data  of 
information  are  overshadowed  by  the  skill  of 
the  teacher  and  by  illustrative  and  explanatory 
devices.  The  machinery  receives  more  atten- 
tion than  the  output.  The  rigid  course  of 
study  of  the  old  school,  as  it  existed  thirty 
years  ago,  the  regular  examination  of  classes 
by  principals  and  superintendents  on  the  sub- 
ject matter  of  the  lesson,  allowed  very  little 
latitude  for  growth  of  educational  weeds  or 
fads. 

Where  a  certain  kind  of  school  work,  de- 
fined in  quantity,  is  prescribed  and  must  be 
accomplished  within  a  reasonable  limit  of 
time,  instruction  is  not  likely  to  lose  its 
concentration  and  force.  While  there  are 
grave  objections  to  a  hard  and  fast  course  of 
study  extending  to  every  detail,  it  may,  never- 
theless, be  said  in  favor  of  the  old  course  of 
study  that  it  was  a  safeguard  against  fads  and 
whims. 


72  The  Century  and  the  School 

Fads  of  Routine  and  Tradition 

The  teacher  of  the  present  day  is  not  wholly 
responsible  for  the  superfluities  in  modern 
instruction.  Some  of  them  have  been  be- 
queathed to  him  by  the  past.  Some  of  the 
studies  of  the  curriculum  are  burdened  with 
topics  and  subdivided  subjects  which  answer 
neither  any  specific  educational  purpose  nor 
any  demand  of  life.  In  one  of  the  best  mono- 
graphs published  during  the  current  year  on 
the  essentials  of  mathematical  teaching  the 
author  shows  how  the  peculiar  mercantile  con- 
ditions of  the  Middle  Ages,  when  the  study  of 
arithmetic  first  came  into  use,  and  when  the 
earliest  text-books  were  written,  led  to  the  in- 
sertion of  certain  topics  in  arithmetic  which 
were  then  useful,  but  for  which,  with  the 
changes  in  modern  life,  every  necessity  has 
passed  away.  These  topics  have  survived  in 
text-books  for  the  sole  reason  that  they  were 
part  and  parcel  of  former  books  in  arithmetic. 

Public-Opinion  Fads 

Public  opinion  has  not  infrequently  abused 

the  term  "fad"  and  branded  with  it  almost 

,  every    progressive    movement    in    education. 

When  I  asked  a  prominent  teacher,  "What  is 


What  is  a  Fad?  73 

a  fad?"  he  answered  promptly:  "Anything  is 
called  a  fad  which  is  done  in  a  way  different 
from  that  in  which  somebody  was  taught  when 
he  was  a  child." 

Perhaps  the  most  dangerous  fads  are  not 
of  the  teacher's  creation,  but  originate  in  the 
community  itself.  The  many  fads  which 
must  be  put  to  the  account  of  teacher  and 
superintendent  are  sad  enough,  but  they  do 
not  begin  to  be  as  pernicious  and  long-lasting 
as  the  harm  that  may  be  done  when  a  strong 
and  masterful  man  with  a  hobby  gets  into  a 
leading  position  on  a  school  board,  and  drives 
his  fellow-members  before  him  in  the  narrow 
path  of  his  special  fad. 

The  people  are  collectively  honest,  and  their 
verdict  is  wise.  Opinions  of  classes  and  in- 
dividuals, however,  no  matter  how  loudly  or 
emphatically  expressed,  are  at  times  unwise. 
The  history  of  past  decades  has  seen  the  rise 
of  many,  and  the  decline  of  some,  of  the  fads 
of  this  origin.  There  is,  for  instance,  the  fad- 
'dish  idea  that  a  laborer  needs  no  education, 
that  workmen  are  spoiled  by  too  much  school- 
ing; there  is  the  "three  R"  fad;  there  is  the 
"education  makes  criminals"  fad. 

The  claim  that  spelling  should  receive  a 
proper  amount  of  attention,  and  is  an  impor- 


74         The  Century  and  the  School 

tant  part  of  public  school  training,  is  valid. 
If  the  demand  is  made,  however,  that  to  this 
study  an  undue  amount  of  time  and  attention 
be  given,  even  spelling  may  become  a  fad. 
Drill  in  spelling  is  a  mechanical  device,  and 
in  the  poorest  imaginable  school  mechanical 
drill  is  always  most  prominent. 

The  "quick  promotion"  fad  has  done  im- 
measurable harm.  Children,  against  the  wish 
and  view  of  their  teacher,  have,  in  places, 
been  forced  into  higher  grades  than  the  one 
for  which  they  were  fit,  and  their  educational 
progress  has  been  impaired  and  ruined  there- 
by. The  teacher  and  principal  who  in  such 
cases  quietly  and  pleasantly,  but  at  the  same 
time  firmly,  stands  his  ground  is  a  blessing  to 
the  child  and  to  the  parent.  One  cannot  help 
thinking  in  this  connection  more  leniently  of 
Rousseau's  paradox:  "The  aim  of  education 
is  not  to  gain  time,  but  to  lose  it." 

One  of  the  worst  fads  of  our  day  is  the 
"extreme  indulgence"  fad.  The  practice  is 
bad  which  lets  the  child  have  his  way  when 
he  is  unreasonable,  and  lets  him  regulate  his 
relations  to  school  and  home  in  accordance 
with  his  pleasure  instead  of  in  accordance  with 
clear  duties.  "I  wish  you  would  make  him 
come  to  time,"  said  a  kind  mother  to  a  teacher 


What  is  a  Fad?  75 

who  had  sent  for  her  on  account  of  the  fre- 
quent tardiness  of  the  child;  "but  the  fact  is, 
I  cannot  make  him  get  up  in  the  morning,  and 
he  will  not  go  to  bed  when  it  is  time."  If  the 
parent  abdicates  the  educational  control  of 
his  child,  he  makes  a  pernicious  error  and 
indulges  in  a  common,  but  objectionable,  fad. 
The  child  must  be  taught  to  be  faithful  to  his 
little  duties  as  soon  as  his  power  in  any  direc- 
tion is  adequate  to  this  educational  demand. 

Conclusion 

Many  of  the  idiosyncrasies  and  petty  errors 
may  be  avoided  by  dwelling  on  the  universal 
principles  of  education  and  by  subjecting  all 
innovations  to  the  test  of  universality.  The 
schools  are  common  schools.  No  practice  or 
study  which  is  serviceable  for  specific  walks 
of  life  alone  can  find,  legitimately,  a  place  in 
public  education. 

The  good  sense  of  the  American  people, 
and  of  American  teachers,  has  thrown  enough 
safeguards  around  the  public  schools  to  pre- 
vent fads  and  petty  errors  from  becoming 
universal.  The  task  of  the  school  is  to  con- 
centrate its  efforts  on  the  recognized  subjects 
of  instruction.  Growth  must  proceed  through 
the  acquisition  of  information.    Progress  does 


76  The  Century  and  the  School 

not  lie  in  the  increase  of  studies,  not  in  the 
excess  of  data,  but  in  the  definiteness  of  ideas, 
the  logical  grouping  of  facts,  the  clearness  of 
insight,  and  the  gradual  strengthening  of  judg- 
ment. When  new  studies  or  practices  are  in- 
troduced for  educational  reasons,  the  teacher 
must  be  ready  to  account  for  the  same  to  pub- 
lic opinion.  The  aim  of  education  is  not 
merely  to  prepare  for  life,  nor  is  it  merely  to 
develop  power.  Each  of  these  aims,  taken 
separately,  leads  to  error  and  fad.  Their 
joint  and  universal  consideration  constitutes 
harmonious  education. 


TEACHERS'  DUTIES 

The  old  saying  of  the  Roman,  "The  wel- 
fare of  the  people  is  the  first  law,"  expresses 
a  principle  which  is  the  foundation  stone  of 
our  national  institutions.  With  a  slight  change 
it  might  well  serve  as  the  motto  for  all  that 
appertains  to  schools  and  their  management. 
*'The  welfare  of  the  child  shall  be  the  highest 
law"  is  the  principle  on  which  every  school 
should  be  conducted.  To  it  all  other  consid- 
erations must  yield  precedence.  The  merit 
or  demerit  of  every  educational  institution  or 
measure  must  be  judged  by  reference  to  it. 
The  whole  educational  apparatus  which  the 
modern  state  has  created, — school  laws,  school- 
houses,  teachers  and  school  officials,  exists  to 
serve  this  purpose  and  no  other.  It  is  a  prin- 
ciple of  universal  validity,  and  applies  not 
only  to  the  general  policy  of  education,  but 
also  to  the  daily  routine  of  school  business. 

For  the  teacher  in  particular  the  principle, 
*'The  child's  welfare  shall  be  the  highest 
law,"  is  of  supreme  importance  and  valid  rules 

n 


yS  The  Century  and  the  School 

for  his  or  her  professional  conduct  might  be 
based  on  it. 

The  right  of  the  teacher  to  control  and  dis- 
cipline the  pupils  in  her  room  is  a  delegated 
one.  Her  authority  is  derived  from  the  fact 
that  she  stands  in  the  parents'  place.  The 
assumption  of  parental  rights  by  the  teacher 
cannot  be  separated  from  obligations  which 
resemble  those  of  the  parent.  Kindness  to 
and  sympathy  with  her  pupils  are  qualifica- 
tions just  as  necessary  in  a  teacher  as  the 
ability  to  impart  instruction.  The  teacher's 
sympathy  with  children  need  not  find  its  prin- 
cipal expression  in  words,  but  in  actions,  not 
in  smiles  and  terms  of  endearment,  but  in 
untiring  patience,  in  steady  temper,  and  in  a 
kindliness  of  disposition,  which  makes  the 
very  presence  of  the  teacher  an  ennobling  edu- 
cational influence.  Not  merely  the  teacher's 
face  and  manner,  but  the  spirit  and  atmos- 
phere of  the  school,  not  the  moment  but  the 
years,  must  be  the  tests  of  her  sympathy  with 
struggling  childhood. 

Little  children  are  at  times  mischievous  and 
naughty,  and  it  may  be  proper  and  even 
obligatory  at  times  to  enforce  respect  to  law 
by  strict  disciplinary  measures;  yet  there 
should  be  sympathy  even  in  punishment,  lest 


Teachers'  Duties  79 

it  fail  of  its  purpose  and  arouse  passions  in 
the  child-soul  which  had  better  forever  be 
dormant. 

There  are  unlovable  children,  seemingly 
irresponsive  to  word  and  act  of  kindness, 
with  whom  it  may  be  difficult  to  remain  in 
sympathetic  touch.  But  for  all  that,  the 
teacher  who  does  not  love  childhood,  in  spite 
of  its  mischief  and  naughtiness,  its  apparent 
slowness  or  dulness  in  lessons,  who  does  not 
enjoy  in  a  measure  even  the  vagaries  of  child- 
hood, has  erred  in  choosing  her  vocation. 
T^he  presence  of  a  nagging,  scolding,  mo- 
rose, fault-finding  or  habitually  discontented 
teacher  or  principal  is  a  calamity  to  a  school 
and  a  misfortune  to  a  school  system. 

The  Duty  of  Self-Improvement 

Never-resting  energy  and  industry  in  school- 
room work  and  personal  professional  pro- 
gressiveness  are  duties  which  the  teacher  owes 
to  her  pupils.  The  school-time  of  many 
children  is  limited  to  two  or  three  years, 
and  every  moment  of  their  time  should  be 
utilized  to  the  best  advantage.  Constant  self- 
improvement  and  growth  on  the  part  of  the 
teacher  are,  therefore,  conditions  of  profes- 
sional excellence.    The   regular  reading  of 


8o         The  Century  and  the  School 

some  progressive  educational  magazine,  and 
good  educational  and  general  literature,  the 
use  of  the  public  library,  a  fair  participation 
in  educational  meetings,  utilization  of  what- 
ever opportunities  for  literary,  scientific,  es- 
thetic or  ethical  culture  the  city  or  place  offers, 
are  obligations  which  the  profession  tacitly 
requires  from  every  conscientious  teacher. 
The  least  educational  fitness  which  child- 
hood can  demand  is  that  its  teacher  should 
be  a  live  man  or  woman.  The  personal 
equation  is  of  special  importance  in  teaching 
where  much  of  the  influence  exerted  over  the 
child  is  by  example  rather  than  precept. 
Strong  manhood  or  womanhood  is  required 
to  make  a  good  teacher. 

In  regard  to  instruction,  the  duty  is  to 
secure  for  the  lessons  the  most  potent  educa- 
tional influence  on  the  development  of  char- 
acter and  mental  power.  It  goes  without 
saying  that  the  facts  of  the  lessons  must  be 
remembered  by  the  child,  and  he  must  be 
helped  in  this  by  sufficient,  if  not  abundant 
drill  and  practice,  made  attractive  by  the 
teacher's  ingenuity  and  resourcefulness.  An 
efficient  teacher  will  see  that  the  lesson  isi 
not  a  ^'re-citation,"  a  term  derived  from  a 
past  age,  when  the  work  of  instruction  con- 


Teachers'  Duties  8i 

sisted  in  assigning  pages  in  a  text-book,  and 
requiring  that  the  words  should  be  com- 
mitted and  "re-cited."  A  lesson  should  not 
be  a  mere  re-citation  on  the  part  of  the  child; 
it  should  rather  be  a  thoughtful  statement  of 
the  contents,  than  the  recital  or  repetition  of 
an  author's  words.  Here  the  true  teacher 
can  train  every  power  of  observation,  thought 
and  experience  by  seeing  that  the  lesson  is 
not  mechanically  learned,  but  intellectually 
mastered,  not  formally  recited,  but  substan- 
tially re-stated.  The  teacher's  skill  makes 
the  operation  of  learning  a  process  of  the 
most  universal  training  of  sense  and  soul. 

The  child  is  to  become  a  law-abiding  and 
order-loving  citizen,  and  the  schoolroom 
gives  him  the  first  training  in  communal  life 
with  his  equals.  He  learns  to  obey  law,  to 
respect  the  rights  of  others,  and  to  regulate 
his  conduct  by  altruistic  considerations.  It 
is  therefore  one  of  the  teacher's  duties  to 
manage  the  room  of  which  she  has  charge 
in  such  a  way  that  good  will,  law  and  order 
prevail.  The  pupil  must  learn  to  so  adjust 
his  conduct  as  to  afford  the  other  children  the 
best  opportunity  for  their  work,  through  his 
silence,  his  application  to  duty  and  obedience 
to  direction.  Rational  and  complete  control 
6 


82  The  Century  and  the  School  v 

of  her  room  is  one  of  the  requirements  in  the 
teacher's  calling  without  which  successful 
instruction  is  impossible,  and  which  is  an 
elementary  and  indispensable  condition  of 
efficiency. 

The  teacher's  authority  has  its  source  in 
that  of  the  parent.  As  she  respects  her  own 
position  she  will  respect  that  of  the  child's 
father  and  mother,  and  whatever  she  can  do 
to  increase  the  child's  appreciation  of  par- 
ental care  and  guidance  will  help  her  to 
maintain  her  own  authority. 

There  is  no  relation  in  the  whole  range  of 
social  life  where  the  pre-supposition  and 
need  of  cooperation  is  more  natural  and  more 
imperative  than  in  the  case  of  the  parent  and 
teacher.  Both  make  the  welfare  of  the  child 
their  highest  law.  Their  own  reputation  and 
well-being  in  life  is  largely  dependent  on  the 
success  of  the  education  of  the  child,  which 
is  their  common  care.  It  is  gratifying  to 
know  that  in  every  schoolroom  in  the  land 
willing  codperation  between  parent  and 
teacher  is  the  rule,  and  the  opposite  the  ex- 
ception. The  work  of  education  is  carried 
on  jointly  and  simultaneously  in  family  stnd 
in  school,  and  this  makes  the  cooperation  of 
parent  and  teacher  not  a  matter  of  choice, 


Teachers'  Duties  83 

but  a  necessity.  School  is  not  a  substitute 
for,  but  the  complement  of  family  education; 
the  fact  that  a  child  has  attained  school  age 
does  not  relieve  the  parent  of  his  educational 
duties;  it  simply  means  that  henceforth  the 
teacher  will  assume  charge  of  a  delegated! 
and  well-defined  part  of  the  child's  training. 
That  a  teacher  should  assist  the  parent  in  his 
educational  efforts,  and,  in  turn,  the  parent 
the  teacher,  are  well  established  educational 
maxims;  without  such  mutual  support  either 
side  of  the  educational  work  may  become 
unnecessarily  difficult,  or  even  unfruitful. 
It  is  clearly  one  of  the  professional  duties  of 
the  teacher  to  strive  to  win  the  good  will  of 
the  parent,  and  to  remain  in  harmony  and 
friendly  touch  with  the  pupil's  home. 
Teacher  and  parent  impair  their  educational 
efforts  by  failing  to  remain  in  sympathetic 
touch  with  each  other. 

While  cooperation  between  school  and 
home  is  desirable,  no  unnecessary  demand 
for  assistance  should  be  made  upon  the  latter, 
and  the  legitimate  share  of  the  work  must 
be  borne  by  the  teacher  without  worrying 
and  nagging  the  parent  with  constant  com- 
plaints about  petty  matters  which  belong  to 
the  legitimate  duties  of  the  school  and  which 


84         The  Century  and  the  School 

a  competent  teacher  should  be  able  to  set 
right  without  troubling  others  unnecessarily 
for  assistance.  As  a  rule,  there  are  few  mat- 
ters in  the  school  with  which  a  self-reliant 
teacher  cannot  deal  without  having  recourse 
to  other  powers. 

There  is  no  parent  who  will  not  appreciate 
the  fruitful  efforts  of  a  teacher  in  behalf  of 
a  child.  A  teacher  who  understands  how  to 
make  her  room  popular,  not  by  granting  un- 
warranted requests  in  favor  of  one  child 
which  would  be  unjust  to  others,  but  by  good 
schoolroom  work,  by  devotion  to  the  chil- 
dren, and  good  nature  in  dealing  with  par- 
ents, renders  a  service  to  the  whole  great 
system  of  schools  and  the  cause  of  public 
education. 

An  even  temper,  patience  and  courtesy  in 
the  intercourse  with  the  parent,  especially 
when  disagreeable  messages  happen  to  be 
received  from  a  child's  home,  are  just  as 
much  professional  duties  of  the  teacher  as 
patience  with  the  children  themselves.  It  is 
rare  that  a  business-like,  kindly  worded  reply, 
consisting  of  a  polite  explanation  of  the  cir- 
cumstances which  the  teacher  wishes  to  place 
before  the  parent,  and  which  wisely  and  en- 
tirely omits  the  element  of,  perhaps,  justifiable 


Teachers'  Duties  85 

personal  resentment,  will  be  received  in  any 
but  a  courteous  and  appreciative  way:  "A  soft 
answer  turneth  away  wrath."  No  teacher 
should  forget  that  a  parent's  life  is  as  full  of 
trials  as  her  own,  and  that  the  experience  with 
a  troublesome  child  is  as  likely  to  be  irritating 
at  home  as  it  is  in  school. 

Every  teacher  owes  to  the  system  of  public 
schools,  of  which  she  is  one  of  the  representa- 
tives, full  loyalty  and  unswerving  support. 
Unless  she  believes  fully  in  public  education 
and  its  high  mission  she  cannot  conscientiously 
hold  her  position.  There  can  be  no  better 
incentive  for  her  than  to  feel  that  the  welfare 
of  the  whole  community,  aye,  of  our  whole 
system  of  government,  depends  upon  the  free 
and  liberal  education  of  the  masses  in  schools 
which  makes  them  intelligent  citizens  and 
good  men  and  women.  A  firm  belief  in  the 
power  of  the  public  school  system  for  good, 
and  unswerving  loyalty  to  it  in  every  way,  is 
an  inseparable  condition  of  a  teacher's  effi- 
ciency. 

Belief  in  the  public  schools  as  a  system 
involves  the  willing  acceptance  of  the  condi- 
tions on  which  it  rests,  namely,  willing  and 
helpful  cooperation  with  other  persons  em- 
ployed in  the  same  work.     Each  teacher  must 


86         The  Century  and  the  School 

subordinate  herself  to  the  grander  purpose 
and  adjust  her  individuality  to  efficient  service 
with  fellow-teachers  and  a  multitude  of  co- 
workers. Where  masses  devote  their  lives  to 
joint  labor  for  a  common  purpose,  subordina- 
tion, self-discipline  and  active  loyalty  become 
essential  duties.  Without  this  there  can  be 
no  concentration  of  efforts,  no  wise  husbanding 
of  means,  no  control,  no  unity  of  purpose,  no 
efficient  maintenance  of  education  on  a  large 
scale.  These  considerations  open  a  new  line 
of  duties  besides  those  which  the  teacher  owes 
to  the  child  and  his  parent,  namely,  full, 
active,  and  willing  cooperation  with  fellow- 
teachers,  principals  and  school  boards,  and 
loyal  obedience  to  school  laws  and  constituted 
authority. 

One  of  the  qualifications  required  of  the 
public  school  teacher  is  her  fitness  for  coopera- 
tive work.  This  means  the  ability  to  get  along 
pleasantly  with  fellow-teachers,  with  prin- 
cipal, parent  and  school  officials,  and  to  labor 
in  close  and  helpful  harmony  with  them. 
Good  will  should  be  the  rule  and  practice,  not 
only  toward  the  children  and  the  principal, 
but  towards  the  teachers  of  other  rooms, — a 
certain  loyal  and  friendly  readiness  to  recog- 
nize the  work  which  the  children  have  done 


Teachers'  Duties  87 

with  other  teachers.  For  instance,  to  intimate 
in  any  form  to  a  child  coming  from  another 
school  that  he  has  been  poorly  taught,  is  bad 
professional  taste.  It  may  be  a  fact,  but 
nothing  is  gained  by  complaint  and  belittling 
in  the  child's  eye  his  past  educational  eflfort 
or  the  efforts  of  his  former  teacher. 

There  is  no  worse  piece  of  folly  than  that 
of  which  instances,  fortunately  rare,  are  found 
in  many  places  from  the  primary  room  to  the 
university,  than  the  fatuous  complaints  about 
the  alleged  poor  instruction  which  the  chil- 
dren have  found  in  the  grades  below  their 
present  one.  Sometimes  a  university  com- 
plains about  the  derelictions  and  inadequacies 
of  high  school  instruction;  the  high  school 
about  the  grammar  schools,  and  in  the  latter 
room  No.  i  complains  about  No.  2,  and  so 
down  to  the  primary  room,  which,  perhaps, 
is  so  fortunately  placed  that  it  has  a  kinder- 
garten preceding  it,  about  whose  derelictions 
it  can  complain.  The  very  fact  that  this  kind 
of  complaint  is  so  general  renders  it  doubt- 
ful whether  it  usually  arises  from  preceding 
inefficient  work,  as  may  sometimes  be  the  case, 
or  from  discovering,  as  we  are  all  apt  to  do  at 
every  stage  of  instruction,  that  our  pupils  are 
not  perfect,  and  that  no  course  of  instruction 


88  The  Century  and  the  School 

ends  in  the  pupil's  complete  mastery  of  all  that 
has  been  taught.  It  is  a  professional  obliga- 
tion of  every  teacher  to  speak  with  due  con- 
sideration, if  not  respect,  of  the  work  of 
predecessors,  and  much  bitterness  of  feeling 
and  lack  of  cooperation  may  be  avoided 
thereby. 

The  loyalty  which  the  teacher  owes  to  the 
school  should  find  expression  in  her  relation 
to  the  principal,  who  represents  the  authority 
of  the  board.  She  owes  him  friendly  sup- 
port. The  title  of  the  office  which  she  holds 
is  that  of  assistant  teacher.  It  is  her  duty  to 
be  of  assistance  to  the  principal,  not  only  in 
name,  but  in  fact.  Her  office  is  not  that  of 
the  critic,  but  of  the  helper.  She  must  try  to 
understand  and  further  the  principal's  plans 
and  methods  for  improving  the  school,  and 
enter  upon  their  spirit  willingly  and  intelli- 
gently. The  support  which  she  gives  to  him 
is  a  measure  of  her  professional  strength  and 
value.  She  must  be  ready  to  share  in  the 
general  duties,  and  the  clerical  and  record 
work  of  the  school.  She  can  help  the  prin- 
cipal by  being  self-reliant  in  her  own  sphere 
of  work;  she  should  not  overburden  his  time 
by  referring  matters  to  him  which  she  may  as 
well  attend  to  herself.     Any  legitimate  order 


Teachers'  Duties  89 

given  by  the  principal  should  not  only  be  car- 
ried out,  as  a  matter  of  course,  but  carried  out 
willingly  and  intelligently,  and  in  a  spirit  of 
helpfulness. 

Any  teacher  has  the  right  to  a  frank  discus- 
sion with  the  principal  of  the  affairs  of  the 
school,  as  far  as  they  concern  her,  but  she  has 
also  the  duty  of  evincing  her  interest  in  a 
friendly  spirit.  A  strong  teacher  can  help  the 
general  work  even  in  her  conversation  with 
other  teachers.  The  professional  reputation 
of  the  principal  should  be  dear  to  all,  because 
the  standing  of  the  school  in  the  community 
and  the  strength  of  his  authority  with  pupils 
and  parents  depend  on  it. 

There  is  no  more  important  office  in  the 
whole  school  organization  than  that  of  the 
principal,  for  it  is  based  on  the  idea  that  in 
the  principal  is  vested  the  highest  local  author- 
ity in  school  matters.  The  great  authority 
given  to  the  principal  in  most  of  our  towns 
and  cities  is  connected  with  duties  corre- 
spondingly great. 

The  popularity  of  the  school  should  be  one 
of  the  great  aims  of  every  principal.  If  the 
school  is  looked  upon  with  favor  by  the  peo- 
ple of  his  district,  he  helps  the  cause;  his  own 
work  and  that  of  the  teachers  will  be  more 


90  The  Century  and  the  School 

successful ;  the  control  of  the  children  will  be 
made  easy,  for  the  popularity  of  a  school 
means  the  hearty  cooperation  of  the  parents 
with  the  measures  adopted  for  its  conduct. 
The  patrons  believe  in  the  principal  and  they 
are  ready  to  believe  in  what  he  does.  It  means 
the  very  desirable  active  support  of  the  sys- 
tem of  public  schools  by  the  citizens  in  the 
district. 

Every  principal  can  help  the  board  of  edu- 
cation by  trying  to  make  his  school  a  favorite 
with  the  people,  which  is  the  natural  position 
for  any  public  school  to  occupy.  Our  people 
believe  in  public  education  and  cherish  it. 
Where  a  school  is  not  popular,  the  probable 
reason  is  usually  some  mistake  of  omission  or 
commission  in  its  management. 

The  best  and  most  direct  way  to  make 
a  school  popular  is  to  make  it  efficient  in 
instruction  and  discipline.  Efforts  in  this 
direction  are  sure  to  find  their  reward  in  pub- 
lic appreciation.  If,  in  addition  to  this,  the 
principal  makes  good  use  of  those  oppor- 
tunities of  forming  the  acquaintance  of  the 
citizens  of  his  district,  which  his  daily  voca- 
tion offers,  and  thus  keeps  in  friendly  touch 
with  the  people;  if  he  makes  it  the  rule  of  his 
own  and  the  teachers'  management  to  culti- 


Teachers'  Duties  91 

vate,  studiously  and  systematically,  pleasant 
relations  with  parents,  it  will  certainly  lead  to 
that  kind  of  popularity  which  is  desirable. 
By  his  treatment  of  parents  the  principal  can 
make  friends  not  only  for  himself,  but  for 
the  public  school  system  of  the  city.  It  is 
neither  necessary  nor  possible  for  him  to 
comply  with  every  demand  that  is  made  upon 
him,  but  even  a  refusal  can  be  put  in  such  a 
form  that  it  appeals  to  the  good  will  of  the 
petitioner.  Every  parent  must  be  made  to 
feel  absolutely  sure  of  a  courteous  and  respect- 
ful hearing  when  he  calls  at  a  public  school, 
and  even  an  angry  parent  should  be  received 
with  good-natured  patience  and  forbearance. 
Every  visitor  should  leave  with  the  impression 
that  the  school  is  officered  by  serious-minded 
men  and  women,  who  have  the  interest  of  the 
children  at  heart. 

Principals  and  teachers  should  make  it  their 
aim  to  please  the  parents.  This  does  not  at  all 
mean  that  the  principal  should  allow  his 
school  to  become  lax  in  discipline,  or  that  he 
should  be  irresolute  in  dealing  with  refractory 
pupils,  or  should  be  accommodating  and  time- 
serving when  unreasonable  demands  are  made 
on  him;  politic  weakness  is  sure  to  result  in 
loss  of  public  confidence  and  respect.    A  weak 


92  The  Century  and  the  School 

man  or  woman  cannot  be  an  efficient  prin- 
cipal. No  American  community  wishes  that 
bad  boys  should  grow  up  uncorrected.  What 
is  required  of  the  principal  is  strict  attention 
to  his  business,  a  certain  kindliness  of  dispo- 
sition towards  children  and  parents,  and  the 
manifest  wish  to  satisfy  just  demands. 

The  amount  of  routine  business,  which  the 
principal  of  a  large  school  is  called  upon  to 
attend  to  in  the  course  of  a  day,  is  exceedingly 
laborious.  Correspondence,  calls  from  par- 
ents and  children,  messages  and  queries  from 
teachers,  constitute  a  great  drain  on  time  and 
attention.  Yet  it  would  be  a  great  error  for  a 
principal  to  lose  himself  in  this  mass  of  detail, 
which,  after  all,  is  of  secondary  importance 
compared  with  the  great  duty  of  being  the 
leader  and  guide  of  the  teachers  and  children. 
To  distinguish  well  between  what  is  impor- 
tant and  what  is  unimportant  in  his  duties  is 
a  test  of  a  principal's  good  judgment.  He 
makes  a  mistake  if  he  allows  himself  to  spend 
too  much  time  on  business  routine,  to  the 
detriment  and  neglect  of  the  educational  work, 
and  fails  to  give  to  the  latter  the  greater  share 
of  his  attention.  Even  as  far  as  instruction  is 
concerned  there  is  much  routine  work  which 
is  of  secondary  importance,  and  must  not  be 


Teachers'  Duties  93 

allowed  to  engross  the  principal's  attention 
too  much.  Thus  the  marking  and  re-marking 
of  examination  papers,  collected  from  various 
rooms,  the  devising  of  new  and  improved 
kinds  of  records,  and  like  matters,  relatively 
important  as  they  may  be,  are  of  much  less 
consequence  than  his  presence  in  the  school- 
rooms, the  direct  supervision  of  instruction 
and  discipline,  wise  and  timely  suggestions  of 
improvement,  and  the  assumption  of  ever- 
active  intellectual  leadership  of  his  teachers. 

Participation  in  the  same  work  may  be 
made  a  source  of  mutual  improvement  for 
principals  and  teachers,  if  they  are  willing  to 
profit  by  the  opportunity.  Every  principal 
must  educate  his  corps  of  teachers,  and  it  may 
be  said,  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  he 
in  turn  is  educated  by  them  through  the  work 
and  methods  he  observes  in  their  rooms.  The 
ideal  principal  will  get  fully  as  much  instruc- 
tion from  his  teachers  as  they  obtain  from  him. 

The  principal  holds  his  office  by  appoint- 
ment of  the  school  authorities;  but  this 
appointment  is  ultimately  based  on  the  sup- 
position of  superior  scholarly  attainments, 
pedagogical  skill  and  executive  ability.  These 
qualities  should  be  just  as  much  in  permanent 
evidence  as  conditions  on  which  the  princi- 


94  The  Century  and  the  School 

pal's  authority  rests,  as  his  annual  re-appoint- 
ment. The  principal's  authority,  in  a  higher 
sense,  can  be  maintained  best  by  constant 
self-improvement,  reading,  and  study;  with- 
out these,  scholarly  qualifications  soon  become 
obsolete. 

In  these  days  of  marked  and  rapid  advance 
in  the  philosophy  of  education,  in  child-study, 
and  in  practical  methods,  it  is  not  enough 
for  a  principal  to  possess  the  routine  efficiency 
and  the  successful  experience  derived  from 
many  years  of  practice  in  managing  schools. 
In  qualifications  confined  to  routine  ability 
there  is  not  a  sufficient  element  of  progress. 
There  is  good  teaching  done  elsewhere  and 
the  child  has  a  right  to  demand  that  his 
leader,  on  whom  his  education  depends, 
should  be  informed  of  the  most  efficient  prac- 
tices and  best  thoughts  current  in  educational 
literature  and  life.  He  should  be  able,  when 
occasion  arises,  to  give  good  pedagogical  rea- 
sons for  his  practical  methods  and  directions, 
more  valid  than  "I  think  so"  or  "this  is  the 
way  in  which  I  think  it  ought  to  be  done." 
Constant  professional  growth  is  even  more 
necessary  for  the  principal  than  for  the 
teacher,  because  it  is  proper  that  the  officer 
should  keep  in  advance  of  his  soldiers.     The 


Teachers'  Duties  95 

principal  must  keep  in  touch  with  the  living, 
spiritual  progress  of  the  age,  and  above  all 
other  things  he  should  be  w^ell-informed  as  a 
student  of  educational  matters  in  theory  and 
practice.  Official  authority  supported  by 
personal  qualifications  constitutes  the  most 
efficient  kind  of  leadership,  and  will  always 
find  responsive  following.  The  example  of 
the  principal  counts  for  much  in  the  practice 
of  the  teachers.  His  ways  of  dealing  with 
children  and  parent  will  be  more  or  less 
imitated  in  the  rooms  of  his  school.  The 
daily  acts  of  a  wise,  kind,  and  firm  manager 
of  children  are  a  more  powerful  influence  in 
training  and  guiding  teachers  than  mere 
directions  or  command. 

There  are  more  qualifications  required  to 
fill  the  principal's  office  than  scholarly  and 
practical  ability.  No  other  position  requires 
strong  manhood  and  womanhood  to  a  greater 
degree.  Every  teacher  should  find  the  sup- 
port of  her  principal  a  tower  of  strength  in 
dealing  with  refractory  pupils  or  unreason- 
able parents.  There  must  be  moral  courage, 
and  the  readiness  to  incur  the  responsibilities 
which  the  position  imposes.  Without  the 
principal's  moral  courage,  and  his  unhesita- 
ting determination  to  stand  by  his  teachers  in 


96         The  Century  and  the  School 

enforcing  just  laws  and  rules  of  order,  our 
schools  would  deteriorate  in  a  direction  that 
is  even  more  important  than  instruction, 
namely,  in  the  training  of  character,  and  they 
would  fail  in  their  task  of  educating  law- 
abiding  and  order-loving  citizens. 

The  principal  is  not  only  the  teacher's  guide, 
but  as  a  rule  he  is  required  to  be  the  judge  of 
their  qualifications.  He  does  not  court  this 
power,  it  is  assigned  to  him  as  a  duty;  it  is 
always  a  responsible,  and  often  a  disagreeable 
one.  He  is  answerable  for  the  condition  of 
his  school,  and,  for  this  reason,  he  is  required 
to  report  on  the  efficiency  of  the  corps.  It  is 
his  duty  to  speak  to  a  teacher  frankly  when  he 
discovers  errors  in  her  instruction  or  manage- 
ment, and  to  make  suggestions  whenever  he 
sees  that  they  are  in  the  interest  of  the  chil- 
dren. There  must  be  unhesitating  readiness 
on  the  part  of  the  principal  in  attending  to 
this  sometimes  unpleasant  task. 

This  task  need  not  be,  and  will  not  be, 
unpleasant,  unless  principal  or  teacher  makes 
it  so;  the  former  by  inconsiderate  manner  in 
making  a  criticism,  and  the  latter  by  unbusi- 
nesslike sensitiveness  when  receiving  it.  It 
is  in  the  interest  of  the  children  that  the 
teacher  should  encourage  the  frankness  of 


Teachers'  Duties  97 

these  criticisms  by  receiving  them  in  a  kind 
and  appreciative  spirit.  In  many  of  the  best 
schools  the  principal,  when  he  passes  through 
the  rooms,  has  usually  a  brief  and  pleasant 
conversation  w^ith  the  teacher,  in  the  hearing 
of  the  children,  about  some  point  of  the  work 
that  is  going  on.  He  asks  questions  and 
makes  suggestions,  if  there  is  occasion,  and 
the  teacher  replies  just  as  pleasantly.  The 
frankest  mutual  confidence  prevails.  The 
impression  left  on  the  children  is  not  that  of 
fault-finding,  but  of  cordial  official  coopera- 
tion and  good  will  existing  between  principal 
and  teacher.  It  is  a  great  mistake  ever  to 
make  criticism  the  outcome  of  a  fit  of  anger  or 
passion.  Criticisms  are  part  of  a  principal's 
official  business,  and  must  not  be  made  an 
indignity  by  the  way  in  which  they  are  given 
or  received.  There  is  one  thing  which  is 
better  than  criticism,  namely,  appreciation  of 
the  good  points  of  a  teacher's  work  and  a 
frank  conversation  and  discussion  of  the  rea- 
sons why  a  practice  that  seems  doubtful  should 
or  should  not  be  followed.  By  such  friendly 
discussions  both  will  be  the  gainers. 

Candor  is  just  as  much  a  principal's  duty  in 
making  criticisms  as  courtesy  in  language  and 
manner.     No  principal  will  believe  that  he 
7 


98  The  Century  and  the  School 

has  a  right  to  criticise  a  teacher  in  the  hearing 
of  her  class  in  any  manner  that  would  lower 
her  in  the  eyes  of  the  children  or  lessen  her 
authority.  The  professional  reputation  and 
standing  of  the  teacher  must  be  as  dear  to  him 
as  his  own.  He  may  have  to  reverse  her  judg- 
ment in  case  of  discipline,  but  even  in  such 
fortunately  very  rare  cases,  he  must  have  the 
greatest  consideration  for  her  standing  with 
pupil  and  parent. 

The  principal's  obligation  to  be  frank  in 
making  a  criticism  has  been  dwelt  upon  at 
length  because  of  its  importance  to  the  school, 
when  there  is  occasion  for  it.  Generally  speak- 
ing, criticism  of  a  teacher's  work  is  an  excep- 
tion, not  the  rule.  When  a  corps  of  teachers 
has  been  with  a  principal  for  years,  it  need  not 
be  of  frequent  occurrence.  Constant  criticism 
is  always  a  mistake.  When  the  work  is  car- 
ried on  successfully  and  efficiently,  as  it  is  in 
most  of  the  classrooms,  there  is  no  occasion 
for  interfering  with  it.  Captious  criticism  is 
mischievous,  because  it  makes  the  teacher  feel 
ill  at  ease  when  the  principal  is  present,  and 
utterly  destroys  her  self-confidence. 

While  the  principal  is  the  absolute  judge 
of  all  arrangements  in  his  school,  there  is  no 
need  of  having  the  whole  work  conducted  on 


Teachers'  Duties  99 

the  dead  level  of  uniformity.  To  deprive 
teachers  of  the  freedom  of  movement  means 
to  deprive  them  of  self-confidence,  and  to  sap 
individuality,  which  is  the  main  source  of 
vigorous  and  progressive  teaching. 

Where  the  principal  is  in  touch  with  his 
corps  of  teachers  and  there  is  constant  inter- 
change of  opinion  about  plans  and  methods, 
a  harmonious  understanding  will  prevail  with- 
out much  criticism.  Meddlesomeness  on  the 
part  of  the  principal  is  as  bad  as  the  oversen- 
sitiveness  or  vanity  on  the  part  of  the  teacher 
who  is  hurt  by  legitimate  criticism. 

If  the  preceding  discussion  has  served  any 
purpose,  it  must  have  shown  that  the  teachers' 
duties  are  exceedingly  numerous,  and  that 
there  is  no  one  who  can  possibly  attain  perfec- 
tion in  all  directions  of  professional  work. 
There  is  no  teacher  living  who  does  not  fall 
short  of  perfection  in  some  way,  and  who  is 
not,  in  certain  directions,  less  efficient  than  in 
others.  But  with  all  the  consciousness  of  the 
imperfection  inherent  in  human  nature,  there 
is  no  higher  duty  for  the  teacher  than  to  strive 
unremittingly  to  approach  perfection  in  the 
sacred  task  of  guiding  and  educating  the  future 
generations  on  whose  integrity  and  intelligence 
depends  the  future  welfare  of  our  country. 


EDUCATIONAL  IDEAS  IN  DICK- 
ENS' NOVELS 

Hans  Makart  attempted  in  one  of  his 
paintings  to  express  the  general  idea  that  per- 
vades the  works  of  Raphael.  His  painting 
shows  a  group  of  but  three  persons.  There 
is  the  portrait  of  Raphael  himself,  pencil  in 
hand,  his  eye  intently  fixed  on  the  face  and 
form  of  a  young  mother,  who  draws  with 
gentle  hand  the  veil  from  the  face  of  her 
beautiful  child  who  is  slumbering  in  the 
cradle. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  sym- 
bolism of  Makart's  group.  The  central  idea 
of  Raphael's  art  is  to  unveil  to  the  world 
the  divine  in  motherhood  and  childhood. 
Through  the  hand  of  the  artist  the  genius 
within  proclaims  to  the  world  without  the 
divine  mystery  revealed  in  that  human  rela- 
tionship. Raphael's  work  is  the  apotheosis 
of  motherhood  and  childhood;  it  is  this  theme 
which  shines  from  his  greatest  paintings. 

The  unveiling  of  the  divine  in  things  hu- 

lOO 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    loi 

man  was  the  object  of  Dickens'  novelistic 
art.  He  differs  in  this  essentially  from  the 
other  great  novel  writers  of  his  age.  His 
aim  was  not  to  introduce  the  reader  to  the 
circles  of  high  life,  and  to  open  to  him  in 
story  drawing-room  doors  closed  to  him  in 
reality;  his  aim  was  not  to  revive  the  romantic 
age  of  knight  and  crusader;  it  was  not  to  pro- 
pose psychological  puzzles  and  to  unravel 
them  in  finely  woven  plots  of  fiction.  No; 
his  eye  dwelt  with  never-fading  interest  on 
the  events  of  commonplace  life  and  every- 
day characters.  Not  the  heights  but  the 
depths  of  human  existence  formed  the  theme 
of  his  art.  The  warehouse,  the  counting- 
room,  the  street  and  the  gutter  supply  him 
with  heroes,  with  godlike  men  and  women 
whose  noble  qualities  ray  out  all  the  more 
strongly  for  the  dark  background  of  folly, 
sin  and  vice  against  which  their  images  are 
thrown.  The  great  novelist  shows  a  tendency 
toward  grotesqueness  and  exaggeration  in 
drawing  characters  and  relating  events;  but 
even  this  strong  bias  cannot  diminish  in  the 
reader  the  feelings  of  reverence  and  sympathy 
when  he  sees  divine  traits  appear  in  the 
thoughts  and  actions  of  the  humblest  and  low- 
liest of  men.     The  sensation  of  the  ludicrous, 


102        The  Century  and  the  School 

for  instance,  which  the  broadly  grotesque 
farce  of  the  adventures  of  Mr.  Pickwick 
arouses  in  the  reader,  is  more  and  more  over- 
shadowed by  the  powerful  pathos  of  the  hero's 
actions.  The  divine  element  appears  when 
the  hero  forgets  insult  and  injury  and  lifts 
up  his  downtrodden  foe,  poor  Jingle,  from 
misery  and  hopeless  despair,  concealing  his 
benevolence  from  others  with  anxious  care. 
Strong  human  foibles  and  absurdities  become 
amiable  weaknesses  in  a  life  consisting  of  the 
unpretending  exercise  of  good  will  toward 
all.  The  hero's  life  ennobles  his  surround- 
ings. The  grotesque  is  forgotten  when  in  it 
a  grandly  noble  soul  unfolds  itself.  Neither 
Job  Trotter  nor  Sam  Weller  can  be  justly 
accused  of  sentimentalism  or  hyperbole,  but 
even  they  see  distinctly  the  divine  element 
appear  in  the  grotesque  character  whom  they 
admire.  When  Mr.  Pickwick  had  helped 
Job's  master  in  his  darkest  hour,  he  had 
touched  the  soul  of  the  scamp  in  the  one 
unselfish  sentiment  which  it  contained :  in  his 
devotion  to  his  master  and  friend.  Speaking 
of  Mr.  Pickwick,  Job  says:  "  *I  could  serve 
that  gentleman  till  I  fell  down  dead  at  his 
feet.' 
"  *No  one  serves  him  but  I,'  answered  Samf. 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    103 

'I  never  heard,  mind  you,  nor  read  of  in  story 
books,  nor  see  in  picters,  any  angel  in  tights 
and  gaiters — not  even  in  spectacles  as  I  re- 
member, though  that  may  ha'  been  done  for 
anythin'  I  know  to  the  contrairey — but  mark 
my  words,  Job  Trotter,  he's  a  regular  thor- 
oughbred angel  for  all  that;  and  let  me  see 
the  man  as  wentures  to  tell  me  he  knows  a 
better  vun.' " 

The  grand  theme  of  Dickens,  the  unveiling 
of  the  divine  in  the  lowliest  forms  of  human 
life,  can  be  traced  in  many  if  not  all  of  his 
writings.  In  Oliver  Twist,  in  the  Old  Curi- 
osity Shop,  in  Bleak  House,  in  Barnaby 
Rudge,  it  is  shown  that  even  an  atmosphere 
of  corruption,  sin  and  crime,  cannot  always 
stifle  the  divine  essence  of  the  human  soul. 

He  turned  to  the  delineation  of  childhood 
in  novel  after  novel  with  ever  new  delight. 
It  was  suffering,  abused,  downtrodden  child- 
hood, however,  which  had  a  fascination  for 
him.  It  was  there  that  he  could  show  best 
that  man  might  grow  into  a  true  image  of 
the  divine  in  spite  of  circumstances  of  misery 
and  poverty,  of  corrupt  surroundings,  of 
stinted,  misguided,  or  tyrannical  education. 
There  are  pictures  of  child-life,  of  educational 
folly  or  wisdom  in  nearly  every  one  of  his 


I04        The  Century  and  the  School 

great  novels,  and  it  is  ever  the  tender  and  lov- 
ing task  of  our  author  to  reveal  the  divine  in 
the  child-soul,  and  to  show  that  innate  nobil- 
ity dwells  in  the  humblest  and  lowliest  of  the 
little  world.  Oliver  Twist,  brought  up  in 
corruption  and  crime,  trained  to  be  a  thief, 
keeps  his  soul  unsullied.  Paul  Dombey, 
brought  up  in  selfishness,  never  knowing  the 
loving  care  of  a  mother,  remains  a  sweet  and 
iloving  child.  Strong  manhood  grows  into 
being  in  cases  where  there  is  a  total  absence 
of  formal  education.  Sam  Weller,  in  his 
humble  station,  is  a  sharp-witted,  intelligent, 
and  honest  lad;  but — ^what  was  his  education? 
Here  is  his  father's  account  of  it,  with  Sam's 
commentary: 

"  Wery  glad  to  hear  it,  sir,'  replied  the  old 
man;  'I  took  a  good  deal  of  pains  with  his 
education,  sir;  let  him  run  in  the  streets  when 
he  was  very  young  and  shift  for  his  self.  It's 
the  only  way  to  make  a  boy  sharp,  sir.' 

"  'Rather  a  dangerous  process,  I  should 
imagine,'  said  Mr.  Pickwick,  with  a  smile. 

"  'And  not  a  very  sure  one  neither,'  added 
Mr.  Weller  jr." 

While  Dickens  has  delineated  child-life 
more  fully  and  more  frequently  than  any  other 
novelist,  yet  we  should  in  vain  look  for  a 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    105 

theory  of  education  or  for  positive  educational 
principles.  He  is  negative  in  the  literary- 
means  which  he  employs,  and  uses  exaggera- 
tion, caricature,  irony  and  satire  everywhere. 
Educational  shams  and  follies  are  his  subjects, 
not  ideals  of  education.  Happy  child-life, 
good  schools  and  good  teachers  have  no  place 
in  his  works.  They  lie  outside  of  the  self- 
appointed  task  of  our  novelist.  He  intended 
to  correct  sins  of  education  and  to  remedy 
social  evils  by  the  force  of  strongly  overdrawn 
description,  which  was  sure  to  move,  if  not 
shock,  public  sentiment.  He  never  tells  how 
education  should  proceed,  but  gives  numerous 
examples  of  ways  in  which  children  should 
not  be  brought  up.  Yet,  from  his  negative 
statements,  from  the  follies  and  crimes  which 
he  scourges,  we  may  infer  the  educational  plan 
which  he  considers  good  and  wise.  Notwith- 
standing this  tendency  to  exaggeration  in  his 
descriptions,  there  is  a  sufficiently  close  re- 
semblance to  reality  to  let  the  caricature  at 
once  suggest  the  image  from  which  it  is 
drawn.  When  Dickens  described,  in  Nich- 
olas Nickleby,  the  revolting  scenes  of  Dothe- 
boys  Hall,  a  number  of  Yorkshire  school- 
masters took  offense  and  threatened  the  author 
with  personal  vengeance,  each  of  them  claim- 


;io6        The  Century  and  the  School 

ing  that  Squeers  was  intended  for  his  own 
portrait. 

Dickens  looked  upon  childhood  with  tender 
sympathy,  and  it  had  a  peculiar  attraction  for 
hirrt.  It  left  him  the  widest  scope  for  the 
employment  of  his  favorite  literary  means, 
humor  and  pathos.  There  is  hardly  any  of 
his  works  without  some  child-character  or 
some  thoughts  on  education.  In  some  novels, 
as  in  Oliver  Twist,  he  makes  the  child  the 
principal  person  in  the  book.  In  Dombey  & 
Son  Paul  is  the  real  hero;  and  when  he  passes 
away  the  interest  dies  out.  The  fascination 
of  helpless,  trustful,  simple,  artless  childhood 
is  so  strong  that  Dickens  tried  to  perpetuate 
these  qualities,  in  some  of  the  lives  which  he 
describes,  beyond  the  limits  of  childhood. 
This  led  him  to  create  some  unique  characters, 
in  which  he  tries  how  the  attributes  of  child- 
hood will  fit  the  adult  hero  or  heroine  of  the 
novel.  Little  Dorrit  shows  the  delicate  sweet- 
ness and  simplicity  of  the  child  blended  with 
the  strong  character  of  womanhood. 

While  other  artists  see  the  sublime  in  what 
is  strong  and  grand,  Dickens  finds  it  in  the 
small,  insignificant  and  lowly.  He  turns 
constantly  to  the  early  days  of  his  heroes,  and 
tells  us  of  their  suffering  and  training  in  the 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    107 

school   of  sorrows   and   the  sorrows   of   the 
school. 

It  is  astonishing  to  see  how  many  sharply 
drawn  child-characters  Dickens  has  given  to 
literature.  There  is  the  early  novel  of  Nich- 
olas Nickleby,  in  which  the  Yorkshire  schools, 
Squeers,  the  schoolmaster,  his  family,  and  his 
teacher  appear;  there  are  the  Snawley  chil- 
dren, poor  Smike,  and  the  little  Kenwigises. 
There  are  little  Paul  and  Florence  in  Dombey 
&  Son.  The  story  of  little  Pip  and  Estella 
is  told  in  Great  Expectations,  where  the  per- 
verted training  of  the  sentiments  is  the  theme. 
In  Little  Dorrit  quite  a  number  of  educa- 
tional incidents  are  related;  there  is  not  only 
the  early  life  of  Amy,  but  the  stern  school  in 
which  Clennam  grew  up,  the  hard  task  of 
Mrs.  General  when  she  tried  to  train  irrev- 
erent, rebellious  Fannie  in  social  refinement. 
In  the  Old  Curiosity  Shop  little  Nell,  Kit, 
and  other  child-characters  are  prominent.  In 
Hard  Times  a  whole  system  of  education  is 
placed  before  the  reader,  when  he  follows  the 
author  to  Gradgrind's  school,  and  learns  his 
educational  ideas  in  regard  to  the  bringing  up 
of  his  children,  Louisa  and  Tom,  and  his 
ward.  Sissy  Jupes.  In  the  Pickwick  Papers 
we  get  occasional  glimpses  at  the  early  train- 


io8        The  Century  and  the  School 

ing  of  inimitable  Sam  Weller.  In  Bleak 
House  one  of  the  most  pathetic  of  Dickens' 
child-characters  stands  before  us:  poor 
Joe.  Oliver  Twist  discloses  scenes  of  youth- 
ful depravity  in  the  Artful  Dodger  and 
his  companions.  David  Copperfield  is  in 
a  measure  the  embodiment  of  Dickens'  own 
life. 

With  such  a  variety  of  child-figures  and 
educational  episodes,  it  is  not  an  easy  task  to 
seek  some  general  idea  which  appears  in  them 
all  and  binds  all  these  heterogeneous  images 
together.  The  general  educational  theme  in 
Dickens'  novels  might  perhaps  thus  be  stated : 
Through  the  night  of  neglect  and  brutal  treat- 
ment of  childhood,  through  the  clouds  of 
parental  cruelty  and  folly,  shine  the  eternal 
stars  placed  by  God  in  the  young  heart:  the 
child's  thirst  for  kindness  and  love,  his  grati- 
tude for  benefits,  his  forgiveness  of  injury. 
No  suffering,  no  degree  of  neglect  can  destroy 
these;  neither  sham  education  nor  perverted 
training  can  warp  them  and  prevent  their 
spontaneous  growth.  This  theme  rings  out 
in  an  endless  variety  of  harmonies  from  the 
novels  of  Dickens.  He  makes  the  noblest 
native  qualities  of  the  child-soul  shine  all  the 
more  brightly  by  the  contrast  in  which  he 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    109 

places  them  with  foolish  and  cruel  modes  of 
education. 

It  is  a  strange  coincidence  that  of  all  Eng- 
lish literary  men,  he  should  write  most  on  edu- 
cation who,  in  a  scholastic  sense,  had  least  of 
it.  Dickens  had  received  less  schooling  than 
any  other  great  English  author  of  our  time. 
His  learning  came  from  the  genius  within 
rather  than  from  the  schools  without.  His 
own  childhood  had  been  full  of  neglect  and 
sorrow.  There  were  periods  in  his  own  life 
as  a  boy  to  which  he  would  never  allow  any 
reference  in  later  years.  He  would  never 
refer,  for  instance,  to  his  days  in  the  ware- 
house, described  as  Murdstone's  and  Grinby's 
in  David  Copperfield.  He  lived  in  London 
most  of  his  life,  but  he  would  never,  as  long 
as  the  old  landmarks  stood,  pass  through  the 
street  which  reminded  him  of  that  period. 

Dickens  may  emphatically  be  called  the 
novelist  of  London  life.  Most  of  the  scenes 
of  his  work  are  located  there.  His  delineation 
of  childhood,  too,  is  largely  taken  from  Lon- 
don life.  The  waif  of  the  street,  the  victim 
of  parental  neglect,  the  orphan  remitted  to 
the  tender  care  of  the  stranger,  the  selfish  util- 
ization of  child-labor,  the  perversion  of  edu- 
cation by  making  its  aim  the  realization  of 


iiio        The  Century  and  the  School 

some  pet  scheme  of  the  parent;  these  and  other 
educational  themes  are  the  favorite  subjects 
of  Dickens.  No  more  pathetic  description  of 
the  child  of  the  gutter  and  of  the  ideal  side  of 
this  pitiful  life  can  be  found  than  in  poor  Joe, 
of  Bleak  House.  Desertion,  squalor,  poverty, 
hunger  and  misery  cannot  altogether  destroy 
the  waif's  better  self;  there  is  in  him  an  in- 
stinctive knowledge  of  right  and  wrong,  the 
noble  feelings  of  gratefulness  and  attachment, 
and  recognition  and  love  of  the  good  in  others. 
Here  is  the  scene  at  the  inquest  over  that  ob- 
scure copyist.  Nemo,  with  whom  the  fate  of 
proud  Lady  Deadlock  seems  to  be  bound  up 
in  such  a  mysterious  way: 

"Says  the  coroner:  *Is  that  boy  here?'  Says 
the  coroner:  'Go  and  fetch  him.  .  .  .  Oh, 
here  is  the  boy,  gentlemen.' 

"Here  he  is,  very  muddy,  very  hoarse,  very 
ragged.  Now,  boy — but  stop  a  minute.  Cau- 
tion. This  boy  must  be  put  through  a  few 
preliminary  paces. 

"Name?  Joe.  Nothing  else  that  he 
knows  on.  Don't  know  that  everybody  has 
two  names.  Never  heard  such  a  thing.  Don't 
know  that  Joe  is  short  for  a  longer  name. 
Thinks  it  is  long  enough  for  him.  He  don't 
find  no  fault  with  it.     Spell  it?    No.     He 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    1 1 1 

can't  spell  it.  No  father,  no  mother,  no 
friends.  Never  has  been  to  school.  What's 
home?  Knows  a  broom's  a  broom;  and  knows 
it  is  wicked  to  tell  a  lie.  Don't  recollect  who 
told  him  about  the  broom  or  about  the  lie. 
But  knows  both.  Can't  exactly  say  what  will 
be  done  to  him  after  he's  dead,  if  he  tells  a  lie 
to  the  gentlemen  here.  But  believes  it  will 
be  something  very  bad,  to  punish  him  and 
serve  him  right,  and  so  he'll  tell  the  truth. 

"  'This  won't  do,  gentlemen,'  says  the  cor- 
oner, with  a  melancholy  shake  of  the  head. . . . 

"While  the  coroner  buttons  his  greatcoat, 
Mr.  Tulkinghorn  and  he  give  private  audi- 
ence to  the  rejected  witness  in  a  corner.  That 
graceless  creature  knows  that  the  dead  man 
.  .  .  was  sometimes  hooted  and  pursued  about 
the  streets.  That  one  cold  winter  night  when 
he,  the  boy,  was  shivering  in  a  doorway  near 
his  crossing  the  man  turned  to  look  at  him  and 
came  back,  and  having  questioned  him,  and 
found  that  he  had  not  a  friend  in  the  world, 
said :  'Neither  have  I — not  one,'  and  gave  him 
the  price  of  a  supper  and  a  night's  lodging. 
That  the  man  had  often  spoken  to  him  since, 
and  asked  him  whether  he  slept  sound  at 
night,  and  how  he  bore  cold  and  hunger,  and 
whether  he  ever  wished  to  die,  and  similar 


112        The  Century  and  the  School 

strange  questions.  That  when  the  man  had 
no  money,  he  would  say  in  passing:  'I  am  as 
poor  as  you  today,  Joe;'  but  that  when  he  had 
any  he  had  always  (as  the  boy  most  heartily 
believed)  been  glad  to  give  him  some. 

"  'He  was  very  good  to  me,'  said  the  boy, 
wiping  his  eye  with  his  wretched  sleeve. 
When  I  see  him  a-laying  so  stretched  out  just 
now,  I  wish  he  could  have  heard  me  tell  him 
so.     He  was  very  good  to  me,  he  was.' " 

The  deep  sympathy  which  our  author  ever 
manifests  for  the  sufferings  and  sorrows  of 
mankind,  explains  the  extreme  bitterness  with 
which  he  speaks  of  the  tormentors  of  child- 
hood— selfish  parents,  tyrannical  teachers  and 
bad  schools.  It  is  the  one  subject  of  which 
he  never  tires.  Hence  the  long  line  of  the 
Creakles,  the  Squeerses,  the  Blimbers,  the 
Pipchins,  the  Wopsles,  and  others.  His  com- 
mand of  details  in  depicting  the  wretchedness 
of  these  educational  monstrosities  seems  to  be 
endless,  but  he  is  sparing  in  the  praise  of  the 
few  good  schools  which  he  describes.  We  tire 
of  his  constant  abuse  of  educational  plans,  of 
schools  and  schoolmasters,  and  try  to  find 
what  kind  of  education  he  approves.  But 
where  our  author  praises  he  seems  soon  ex- 
hausted.   We  hear  much   about  Dotheboys 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    1 13 

Hall,  about  Dr.  Blimber  and  Mr.  Creakle; 
we  find  a  very  vivid  description  of  every  detail 
of  Mr.  McChoakumchild's  teaching;  but 
when  we  turn  to  Dr.  Strong's  noble  school,  a 
very  brief  and  very  general  description  is  all 
that  is  given. 

Copperfield-Dickens  describes  it  thus: 
"I  got  a  little  better  of  my  uneasiness  when 
I  went  to  school  the  next  day,  and  a  good  deal 
better  the  next  day,  and  so  shook  it  off  by  de- 
grees that  in  less  than  a  fortnight  I  was  quite 
at  home,  and  happy  among  my  young  com- 
panions. I  was  awkward  enough  in  their 
games,  and  backward  enough  in  their  studies; 
but  custom  would  improve  me  in  the  first 
respect,  I  hoped,  and  hard  work  in  the  second. 
Accordingly  I  went  to  work  very  hard,  both 
in  play  and  in  earnest,  and  gained  great  com- 
mendation. And,  in  a  very  little  while,  the 
Murdstone  and  Grinby  life  became  so  strange 
to  me  that  I  hardly  believed  in  it,  while  my 
present  life  grew  so  familiar  that  I  seemed  to 
have  been  leading  it  a  long  time. 

"Dr.  Strong's  was  an  excellent  school;  as 
different  from  Mr.  Creakle's  as  good  is  from 
evil.  It  was  very  gravely  and  decorously 
ordered,  and  on  a  sound  system,  with  an  ap- 
peal, in  everything,  to  the  honor  and  good 
8 


114        The  Century  and  the  School  ' 

faith  of  the  boys,  and  an  avowed  intention  to 
rely  on  their  possession  of  those  qualities,  un- 
less they  proved  themselves  unworthy  of  it, 
which  worked  wonders.  We  all  felt  that  we 
had  a  part  in  the  management  of  the  place, 
and  in  sustaining  its  character  and  dignity. 
Hence  we  soon  became  warmly  attached  to  it. 
I  am  sure  I  did  for  one,  and  I  never  knew,  in 
all  my  time,  of  any  other  boy  being  otherwise, 
and  learned  with  a  good  will,  desiring  to  do 
it  credit." 

There  is,  perhaps,  some  reason  for  the  fact 
that  Dickens  paints  parents  and  teachers  so 
often  in  the  darkest  colors.  The  memory  of 
the  miseries  of  his  own  childhood  was  stronger 
than  the  recollection  of  its  joys.  He  himself 
had  been  a  poor,  neglected  child.  The  liter- 
ary master-mind  of  the  age  had  never  received 
a  literary  education.  When  little  Charles 
was  nine  years  old,  his  father,  who  had  held 
a  small  government  office,  became  involved  in 
financial  difficulties,  which  landed  him  in  the 
debtors'  prison,  the  Marshalsea.  The  boy 
had  to  shift  for  himself.  Copperfield's  life 
in  the  warehouse  of  Murdstone  and  Grinby  is 
a  fairly  correct  account  of  Dickens'  boyhood 
during  those  years.  Mr.  Micawber  and  Mr. 
Dorrit,  the  father  of  the  Marshalsea,  are  re- 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    115 

flections  caught  from  the  lights  and  shadows 
of  the  personality  of  Dickens'  father.  His 
miother  is  perhaps  depicted  in  Mrs.  Nickleby. 

Our  novelist  had  but  to  recall  his  own  neg- 
lected child-life  and  then  to  contemplate  the 
suddenness  with  which  his  life,  after  the  ap- 
pearance of  his  first  great  novels,  passed  into 
the  sunshine  of  fame  and  wealth,  to  derive 
from  this  reflection  the  lesson  which  he  reiter- 
ates so  constantly:  Tihe  innate  power  of  the 
soul  will  triumph  over  neglected  and  per- 
verted education,  and  break  through  the  bar 
of  circumstance  into  the  sunlight  of  a  noble 
life. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  educational  content 
of  some  of  his  best  novels.  In  his  earliest 
great  work,  the  Pickwick  Papers,  the  educa- 
tional theme  is  touched  on  incidentally  only. 
If  Sam  Weller  is  in  a  sense  the  hero  of  the 
story,  he  illustrates  the  rough  training  which 
the  life  in  a  large  city  may  give  to  a  naturally 
well-disposed  boy,  and  shows  the  qualities 
which  are  likely  to  be  developed — shrewdness, 
sharpness  of  wit  and  resource,  readiness  of 
speech,  extreme  self-reliance  verging  on  ir- 
reverence; and  yet,  with  all  these,  good  will 
towards  others. 

In  Oliver  Twist,  the  second  great  novel,  the 


ti6       The  Century  and  the  School 

educational  theme  is  not  only  an  incident,  but 
it  predominates.  The  novel  is  an  account  of 
the  checkered  career  of  a  poor  orphan  boy, 
whose  mother  had  died  at  his  birth,  among 
strangers.  The  infant  had  been  turned  over 
to  the  workhouse.  "He  was  enveloped  in  the 
old  calico  robes,  which  had  grown  yellow  in 
the  same  service;  he  was  badged  and  ticketed, 
and  fell  into  his  place  at  once,  a  parish  child — 
the  orphan  of  a  workhouse — the  humble,  half- 
starved  drudge — to  be  cuffed  and  buffeted 
through  the  world — despised  by  all,  and 
pitied  by  none."  At  the  age  of  nine  he  is 
summoned  before  the  workhouse  board,  and 
a  kind  of  practical  business  education  is 
mapped  out  for  him;: 

"  Well,  you  have  come  here  to  be  educated, 
and  taught  a  useful  trade,'  said  the  red-faced 
gentleman  in  the  high  chair. 

"  'So  you'll  begin  to  pick  oakum  tomorrow 
morning  at  six  o'clock,'  added  the  surly  one 
in  the  white  waistcoat. 

"For  the  combination  of  both  these  bless- 
ings in  the  one  simple  process  of  picking 
oakum,  Oliver  bowed  low  by  the  direction  of 
the  beadle." 

After  a  short  time  Oliver  is  "let  out"  to 
some  master,  is  badly  treated,  and  runs  away. 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    117 

In  London  he  falls  in  with  a  young  thief,  and 
is  taken  by  him  to  Fagin,  the  head  of  the 
gang,  who  takes  much  pains  to  educate  Oliver 
for  the  same  occupation.  There  is  really  a 
kind  of  technical  training  in  robbery  in  the 
house  of  the  master-thief.  After  breakfast 
the  young  rogues  are  required  to  practice  on 
Fagin,  who  walks  about  the  room  with  his 
pockets  stuffed  with  handkerchiefs,  snuff- 
boxes, pocketbooks,  and  the  like;  and  the 
game  is  to  take  these  things  from  him  with 
such  light-fingered  skill  that  the  watchful  eye 
of  the  old  thief  does  not  perceive  the  loss. 
Oliver's  education  through  the  surroundings 
of  this  wretched  place  seconds  this  direct  evil 
training.  He  lives  among  depraved  men  and 
women,  from  the  thief  down  to  the  murderer. 
Yet,  in  spite  of  this  education  for  crime,  by 
design  and  surroundings,  the  purer  instincts 
of  the  child's  soul  triumph.  He  turns  away 
from  the  first  dark  deed  in  which  he  is  to  take 
part,  and  finds  good  people  who  make  his  wel- 
fare their  care. 

The  lesson  of  Oliver  Twist  seems  to  be  that 
even  perverted  education  cannot  crush  the 
divine  instinct. 

The  next  great  work  from  the  pen  of  Dick- 
ens was  Nicholas  Nickleby.     In  it  the  educa- 


ii8       The  Century  and  the  School 

tional  theme  again  predominates.  It  was 
written  with  the  avowed  intention  of  dealing 
a  crushing  blow  at  the  outrages  of  the  York- 
shire boarding-schools.  While  Nicholas  and 
Ralph  Nickleby  are  the  heroes  of  the  book, 
the  center  of  interest  is  the  school  of  Dothe- 
boys  Hall.  The  lesson  of  the  novel  seems 
clear:  The  ethical  and  sacred  relation  of  love 
between  parent  and  child  is  an  essential,  indis- 
pensable element  in  all  education ;  it  must  be 
reflected  in  the  sympathy  between  teacher  and 
pupil.  Without  love  and  sympathy  there  can 
be  no  education;  home  becomes  a  place  of 
torture,  and  school,  a  jail. 

In  Squeers'  school  sympathy  has  no  place; 
and  yet  the  disgusting  brutality  of  the  master 
reflects  but  the  depravity  of  the  parent  who 
removed  from  the  circle  of  the  home  the 
child  that  nature  had  deformed  or  neglected. 
Squeers'  school  is  the  inferno  of  childhood, 
the  place  without  hope  or  joy.  There  can  be 
no  stronger  presentation  of  the  principle  that 
education  without  love  or  sympathy  is  deprav- 
ing and  brutalizes  both  educator  and  child; 
it  is  worse  than  even  the  total  absence  of 
schooling.  There  are  schools  which  do  not 
educate,  but  ruin. 

In  the  Old  Curiosity  Shop  the  educational 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    1 19 

theme  is  continued.  Here  it  is  shown  how 
love  may  in  itself  become  an  education.  The 
folly  of  the  old  gambler  wrecks  his  own  fate 
as  well  as  that  of  little  Nell,  for  whom  he 
attempts  to  gamble  together  a  fortune.  Yet 
the  tender  love  with  which  he  clings  to  her 
and  the  deep  attachment  of  the  child  to  him 
makes  her  soul  grow  into  an  ethical  beauty 
round  which  the  author  weaves  his  most  pa- 
thetic story.  Child-heroism  is  crowned  with 
unfading  glory.  "This  child,"  he  thought, 
"has  this  child  heroically  persevered  under 
all  doubts  and  dangers,  struggled  with  poverty 
and  suffering,  upheld  and  sustained  by  strong 
affection  and  the  consciousness  of  rectitude 
alone!  And  yet  the  world  is  full  of  such 
heroism.  Have  I  yet  to  learn  that  the  hardest 
and  best-borne  trials  are  those  which  are 
never  chronicled  in  any  earthly  record  and 
are  suffered  every  day!  And  should  I  be 
surprised  to  hear  the  story  of  this  child?" 

Great  Expectations,  one  of  the  later  novels, 
might  here  be  mentioned  because  of  the 
special  kind  of  perverted  education  that  forms 
its  subject :  the  perverted  education  of  the  sen- 
timents. The  power  which  education  may 
exercise  in  rousing  and  deadening  the  feelings 
of  the  heart  is  illustrated  in  the  lives  of  Estella 


120       The  Century  and  the  School 

and  Pip.  Estella  is  an  adopted  child;  her 
benefactress,  Miss  Havisham,  had  been  de- 
serted, on  the  day  that  was  to  see  her  married, 
by  the  man  she  loved.  Since  that  terrible 
hour  she  had  spent  a  lifetime  in  the  seclusion 
of  her  rooms,  still  dressed  in  the  white  robe 
which  she  wore  on  the  fatal  day.  Her  heart 
was  broken,  her  mind  affected.  She  adopts 
and  brings  up  Estella  to  be  devoid  of  all  sen- 
timent. Estella  grows  into  a  most  beautiful 
woman ;  true  to  her  training,  she  marries  with- 
out love.  But  instead  of  leading  a  life  free 
from  sorrow — because  in  consequence  of  her 
education  she  was  not  supposed  to  possess 
a  heart  capable  of  suffering — she  lives  in 
wretchedness  at  the  side  of  a  contemptible 
being  until  his  death  frees  her. 

Pip,  a  village  boy  who  had  been  called  to 
the  lonesome  Havisham  mansion  several  times 
to  play  with  Estella,  has  an  educational  career 
of  a  different  sort.  He  is  an  orphan  who  is 
being  brought  up  by  his  sister,  the  wife  of  the 
village  blacksmith,  Joe.  "Mrs.  Joe,"  says 
little  Pip,  speaking  of  his  sister,  "was  a  very 
clean  housekeeper,  but  had  an  exquisite  art 
of  making  her  cleanliness  more  uncomfortable 
than  dirt  itself."  She  did  her  duty  by  her 
young  brother,  as  far  as  feeding  and  clothing 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    I2i 

him  were  concerned,  but  she  did  not  love  him. 
She  did  not  seem  to  have  much  affection  for 
anyone.  Pip  says:  "I  was  always  treated  as 
if  I  had  insisted  on  being  born  in  opposition 
to  the  dictates  of  reason,  religion  and  moral- 
ity, and  against  the  dissuading  argument  of 
my  best  friends." 

In  this  respect  Pip's  training  was  similar 
to  that  of  Estella's.  In  her  case,  there  was  the 
training  of  hatred  and  scorn ;  in  the  other  case, 
there  was  the  absence  of  natural  affection. 
Pip  himself  gives  us  an  idea  how  this  school- 
ing without  love  or  sympathy  affected  him: 

"My  sister's  bringing-up  had  made  me  sen- 
sitive. In  the  little  world  in  which  children 
have  their  existence,  whosoever  brings  them 
up,  there  is  nothing  so  finely  perceived  and 
so  finely  felt  as  injustice.  It  may  be  only 
small  injustice  that  a  child  can  be  exposed  to, 
but  the  child  is  small,  and  its  world  is  small, 
and  his  rocking-horse  stands  as  many  hands 
high,  according  to  scale,  as  the  big-boned  Irish 
hunter.  Within  myself  I  had  sustained  from 
my  babyhood  a  perpetual  conflict  with  in- 
justice. I  had  known  from  the  time  that  I 
could  speak  that  my  sister  in  her  capricious 
and  violent  coercion  was  unjust  to  me.  I  had 
cherished    a   profound    conviction    that   her 


122        The  Century  and  the  School 

bringing  me  up  by  hand  gave  her  no  right  to. 
bring  me  up  by  jerks." 

While  Pip's  education  seemed  to  lack  the 
essential  elements  of  sympathy  at  home,  yet 
he  did  not  grow  up  without  schooling.  Mrs. 
Joe  sent  him  to  the  village  teacher,  Mrs. 
Wopsle,  whose  name  Dickens'  caricature  has 
made  immortal.  "Mr.  Wopsle's  great-aunt 
kept  an  evening  school  in  the  village;  that  is 
to  say,  she  was  a  ridiculous  old  woman  of 
limited  means  and  unlimited  infirmity,  who 
used  to  go  to  sleep  from  six  to  seven  every 
evening,  in  the  society  of  youth  who  paid  two- 
pence per  week  for  the  improving  opportu- 
nity of  seeing  her  do  it."  Yet,  after  all,  Pip 
made  some  progress. 

"Much  of  my  unassisted  self,  and  more  by 
the  help  of  Biddy  than  of  Mr.  Wopsle's  great- 
aunt,  I  struggled  through  the  alphabet  as  if 
it  had  been  a  bramble-bush ;  getting  consider- 
ably worried  and  scratched  by  every  letter. 
After  that  I  fell  among  those  thieves,  the  nine 
figures,  who  seemed  every  evening  to  do  some- 
thing new  to  disguise  themselves  and  baffle 
recognition.  But  at  last  I  began  in  a  purblind, 
groping  way  to  read,  write  and  cipher  on  the 
very  smallest  scale." 

While  little  Pip  did  not  obtain  much  of  an 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    123 

education  from  his  sister,  Mrs.  Joe,  nor  from 
his  teacher,  Mrs.  Wopsle,  he  received  the 
highest  training  from  one  more  ignorant  than 
himself — from  dear,  clumsy,  illiterate  Joe, 
the  village  blacksmith,  the  giant  w^ith  the 
heart  of  a  child.  By  him  he  was  taught  les- 
sons more  important  than  any  schooling  in 
letters:  forbearance,  good  will,  and  love.  "I 
loved  Joe — perhaps  for  no  better  reason  in 
those  early  days  than  because  the  dear  fellow 
let  me  love  him'." 

Not  unfrequently,  when  the  storms  of  Mrs. 
Joe's  temper  drove  big  Joe  and  little  Pip  from 
house  and  home,  the  two  fellow-suflferers 
would  sit  together  and  talk  their  sorrows,  and 
the  noble  soul  of  the  simple  blacksmith  would 
unwittingly  teach  golden  ethical  truths  to  the 
listening  child,  never- forgotten  lessons  which 
helped  to  form  his  life.  Here  is  how  Joe  ex- 
plains the  untiring  patience  with  which  he 
bears  his  wife's  outbreaks  of  temper: 

"  'And  last  of  all,  Pip — and  this  I  want  to 
say  very  serous  to  you,  old  chap — I  see  so  much 
in  my  poor  mother,  of  a  woman  drudging  and 
slaving  and  breaking  her  honest  heart,  and 
never  getting  no  peace  in  her  mortal  days,  that 
I  am  dead  afeard  of  going  wrong  in  the  way 
of  not  doing  what's  right  by  a  woman,  and  I'd 


124       The  Century  and  the  School 

fur  rather  of  the  two  go  wrong  t'other  way, 
and  be  a  little  ill-convenienced  myself.' 

"Young  as  I  was,  I  believe  that  I  dated  a 
new  admiration  of  Joe  from  that  night.  We 
were  equals  afterwards,  as  we  had  been  be- 
fore; but  afterwards  at  quiet  times  when  I  sat 
looking  at  Joe  and  thinking  about  him,  I  had 
a  new  sensation  of  feeling  conscious  that  I  was 
looking  up  to  Joe  in  my  heart." 

In  the  novel  Hard  Times  there  is  a  new 
variation  of  the  favorite  educational  theme  of 
Dickens.  Here  it  is  not  meanness,  nor  lack 
of  sympathy,  that  causes  wealthy  Mr.  Grad- 
grind,  the  factory  owner  and  school  com- 
mitteeman, to  espouse  a  pernicious  system  of 
education  and  to  sacrifice  his  little  ones  to  the 
Moloch  of  a  theory.  While  in  the  works 
which  we  have  so  far  considered,  under-edu- 
cation,  educational  neglect  and  perverted  edu- 
cation are  represented,  the  story  of  Hard 
Times  illustrates  how  even  a  well-meaning 
effort  and  an  honestly  conducted  school  may 
defeat  the  objects  of  education  when  they  are 
made  subservient  to  a  vicious  theory.  Here 
the  school  "system"  becomes  the  enemy  of 
education.  Instead  of  making  the  "system" 
serve  the  child,  the  child  is  sacrificed  to  the 
"system."    True,  he  is  educated  for  life,  as 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    125 

the  phrase  is:  not  for  his  own  life,  but  some- 
body else's.  The  aim  is  not  so  much  to  make 
him  strong,  good  and  happy,  but  to  fit  him  for 
some  place  in  shop  or  factory.  Mr.  Grad- 
grind's  educational  system  sounds  strangely 
familiar  to  us.  We  have  heard  it  reiterated 
as  the  most  recent  educational  wisdom  by 
generations  of  his  successors:  "Schools  must 
be  practical.  They  must  not  teach  anything 
that  is  not  of  practical  value.  Only  what  is 
directly  useful.  Nothing  but  what  has  a 
price  in  the  labor  market.  We  want  no  senti- 
ments, no  romance  about  education." 

It  never  dawned  upon  Gradgrind's  soul, 
until  misery  and  suffering  had  brought  it 
home  to  him,  that  education  must  do  its  work 
for  the  soul  within  rather  than  for  the  world 
without,  and  that  the  most  practical  education 
is  one  which  makes  every  good  germ  grow 
into  fruition. 

Gradgrind,  however,  to  begin  with,  thought 
that  matter-of-fact  knowledge  and  sharp  intel- 
ligence were  all  that  school  training  should 
aim  at,  and  in  consequence  lays  down  the  fol- 
lowing course  of  study  for  the  teacher  of  his 
school : 

"Now,  what  I  want  is  facts.  Teach  these 
boys  and  girls  nothing  but  facts.     Plant  noth- 


126        The  Century  and  the  School 

ing  else;  root  out  everything  else.  You  can 
only  form  the  minds  of  reasoning  animals 
upon  facts.  Nothing  else  will  ever  be  of  any 
service  to  them.  This  is  the  principle  on 
which  I  bring  up  my  own  children,  and  this 
is  the  principle  on  which  I  bring  up  these 
children.     Stick  to  the  facts,  sir." 

Mr.  Gradgrind,  though  mistaken  in  his 
theory,  was  an  honest,  well-meaning  man.  He 
did  not  advocate  to  limit  public  education  to 
the  three  R's,  while  he  sent  his  own  children 
to  the  best  college.  He  acted  in  accordance 
with  his  belief:  the  education  which  he 
thought  best  for  the  public  was  good  enough 
for  himself.  He  sent  his  own  children, 
Louisa  and  Tom,  to  Mr.  McChoakum- 
child's  school  to  be  filled  with  facts  and 
nothing  else.  No  training  of  the  sentiments 
for  himl  No  cultivation  of  gentle  fantasy 
and  happy  imagination!  Nothing  but  prac- 
tical facts! 

In  Mr.  Gradgrind's  model  school  Sissy 
Jupes,  the  child  of  a  traveling  circus  per- 
former, had  found  admission  by  accident. 
Her  father,  whom  she  had  loved  tenderly, 
deserted  her,  and  Mr.  Gradgrind  was  moved 
to  receive  the  little  orphan  into  his  own 
family.     It  was  through  Sissy  Jupes  and  her 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    127 

loving  nature  that  Louisa,  who  had  been 
brought  up  on  facts,  was  saved  from  the 
destructive  consequences  of  Mr.  Gradgrind's 
educational  theory.  The  rich  inner  life  of 
the  strange  child,  its  affectionate  nature,  its 
strong  and  sound  sentiment,  worked  a  reform 
in  the  selfish  tendencies  of  Louisa,  and  led  her 
to  realize  that  while  her  mind  had  been  filled 
with  facts,  her  heart  had  remained  void. 
"  'You  have  been  so  careful  of  me,'  "  Louisa 
tells  her  father,  "  'that  I  never  had  a  child's 
heart.  You  have  trained  me  so  well  that  I 
never  dreamed  a  child's  dream.  You  have 
dealt  so  wisely  with  me,  father,  that  I  never 
had  a  child's  fear.' 

"Mr.  Gradgrind  was  quite  moved  by  his 
success,  and  by  this  testim'ony  of  it.  *My  dear 
Louisa,'  said  he,  'you  abundantly  repay  my 
care.     Kiss  me,  my  dear  girl.'  " 

How  poor  little  Sissy  Jupes,  the  orphan, 
longing  for  tenderness  and  sympathy,  the 
bright  child  full  of  rich  imaginative  life, 
fared  in  Mr.  McChoakumchild's  school,  can 
easily  be  conceived.  Even  the  most  decisive 
statistics  which  Mr.  McChoakumchild,  in 
the  spirit  of  his  philosophy  placed  before  her, 
could  not  convince  poor  Sissy  that  she  was  a 
happy  child.     Here  is  her  account  of  her 


128        The  Century  and  the  School 

mental  difficulties  at  school  as  she  relates  them 
to  her  friend,  Miss  Louisa: 

"He  said,  'Now  this  schoolroom  is  a  nation, 
and  in  this  nation  there  are  fifty  millions  of 
money.  Isn't  this  a  prosperous  nation?  And 
are  not  you  in  a  thriving  state?' 

"  What  did  you  say?'  asked  Louisa. 

"  'Miss  Louisa,  I  said  I  did  not  know.  I 
thought  I  could  not  know  whether  it  was  a 
prosperous  nation  or  not,  and  whether  I  was 
in  a  thriving  state  or  not,  unless  I  knew  who 
got  the  money  and  whether  any  of  it  was 
mine.  But  that  had  nothing  to  do  with  it. 
It  was  not  in  the  figures  at  all,'  said  Sissy, 
wiping  her  eyes. 

"  'That  was  a  great  mistake  of  yours,'  ob- 
served Louisa. 

"  'Yes,  Miss  Louisa,  I  know  it  now.  Then 
Mr.  McChoakumchild  said  he  would  try  m'e 
again.  And  he  said  this  schoolroom  was 
'an  immense  town ;  in  it  there  are  a  million  of 
inhabitants,  and  only  five- and- twenty  are 
starved  to  death  in  the  streets  in  the  course  of 
a  year.  What  is  your  remark  on  that  propor- 
tion?' And  my  remark  was — for  I  could  not 
think  of  a  better  one — that  I  thought  it 
must  be  just  as  hard  upon  those  who  were 
starved,  whether  the  others  were  a  million,  or 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels   129 

a  million  million.  And  that  was  wrong  too.'  " 
The  results  of  Gradgrind's  system  of  edu- 
cation could  have  been  anticipated.  In  his 
son  Tom  it  engendered  the  worst  features  of 
selfishness  and  deceit;  his  wretched  life  repre- 
sents a  downward  course  from  facts  to  dis- 
grace and  sin.  Louisa's  life,  too,  was  made 
miserable  through  her  training,  but  the  love 
and  womanly  strength  of  Sissy  Jupes  saves  her 
from  ruin. 

For  Mr.  Gradgrind  himself  a  time  of  ad- 
versity arrives;  and  in  the  downfall  of  his 
hopes,  in  the  dark  hour  of  disappointment, 
when  his  daughter's  love,  and  that  feeling  of 
deep  sympathy  for  which  there  had  been  no 
place  in  his  "system,"  become  the  solace  of  his 
wounded  soul,  he  realizes  and  confesses  to 
himself  the  error  of  his  former  views:  "  'Some 
persons  hold,'  he  pursued,  still  hesitating,  'that 
there  is  a  wisdom  of  the  head,  and  that 
there  is  a  wisdom  of  the  heart.  I  have  not 
supposed  so;  but,  as  I  have  said,  I  mistrust 
myself  now.  I  have  supposed  the  head  to  be 
all-sufficient.  It  may  not  be  all-sufficient.' " 
While  in  Hard  Times  education  falls  a 
victim  to  the  "system,"  in  Dombey  &  Son  the 
child  is  sacrificed  to  the  pride  of  the  parent. 
Little  Paul,  so  loving,  so  honest,  so  true,  is  one 

9 


130        The  Century  and  the  School 

of  the  sweetest  of  the  novelist's  child-char- 
acters. He  had  all  that  his  father's  money 
could  buy — yet  there  was  no  mother's  love. 
He  had  all  the  education  that  he  wanted — in 
fact,  he  had  more  than  he  wanted;  the  poor 
fellow  died  from  over-education. 

Little  Paul  Dombey  was  the  victim  of  a 
perverted  educational  aim.  While  Tom  and 
Louisa  Gradgrind  were  educated  for  the  glory 
of  the  "system,"  he  was  educated  for  Dombey 
&  Son,  for  the  glory  of  the  firm.  The  selfish 
pride  of  the  father  never  thought  of  poor  Paul 
as  a  weak,  ailing  child;  never  troubled  him- 
self about  the  needs  of  his  being  and  his  hap- 
piness ;  the  boy  was  to  him  simply  the  future 
representative  of  the  great  house,  Dombey  & 
Son.  To  this  his  wife  had  died  a  victim;  to 
this  Paul  was  to  be  sacrificed.  "Some  phil- 
osophers tell  us  that  selfishness  is  at  the  root 
of  our  best  loves  and  affections.  Mr.  Dom- 
bey's  young  child  was,  from  the  beginning, 
so  distinctly  important  to  him  as  part  of  his 
own  greatness,  or  (which  is  the  same  thing), 
of  the  greatness  of  Dombey  &  Son,  that  there 
is  no  doubt  his  parental  affection  might  have 
been  easily  traced  (like  many  a  goodly  super- 
structure of  fair  fame),  to  a  very  low  founda- 
tion." 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    13  ii 

Little  Paul,  old  beyond  his  years,  feeble 
and  frail  in  body,  strong  only  in  his  affection 
for  dear  Floy,  his  sister,  was  placed  by  his 
father  in  Mrs.  Pipchin's  famous  institution, 
"an  infantine  boarding-house  of  a  very  select 
description."  Mr.  Dickens  gives  us  a  brief 
sketch  of  the  methods  of  teaching  used  in  this 
place:  "At  about  noon  Mrs.  Pipchin  presided 
over  some  early  readings.  It  being  a  part  of 
Mrs.  Pipchin's  system  not  to  encourage  a 
child's  mind  to  develop  and  expand  itself  like 
a  young  flower,  but  to  open  it  by  force  like  an 
oyster,  the  moral  of  these  lessons  was  usually 
of  a  violent  and  stunning  character:  the  hero 
— a  naughty  boy — seldom,  in  the  mildest 
catastrophe,  being  finished  off  by  anything 
less  than  a  lion  or  a  bear." 

After  Paul  had  been  with  Mrs.  Pipchin  for 
a  while,  it  occurred  to  Mr.  Dombey  that  it 
was  time  to  require  of  his  boy  a  still  higher 
effort  in  behalf  of  Dombey  &  Son.  "Mr. 
Dombey  withdrew  to  the  hotel  and  his  din- 
ner: resolved  that  Paul,  now  that  he  was  get- 
ting so  old  and  well,  should  begin  a  vigorous 
course  of  education  forthwith,  to  qualify  him- 
self for  the  position  in  which  he  was  to  shine; 
that  Dr.  Blimber  should  take  him  in  hand 
immediately. 


132        The  Century  and  the  School 

"Whenever  a  young  gentleman  was  taken 
in  hand  by  Dr.  Blimber,  he  might  consider 
himself  sure  of  a  pretty  tight  squeeze.  The 
Doctor  undertook  the  charge  of  ten  young 
gentlemen,  but  he  had  always  ready  a  supply 
of  learning  for  a  hundred,  on  the  lowest  esti- 
mate, and  it  was  at  once  the  business  and  the 
delight  of  his  life  to  gorge  the  unhappy  ten 
with  it. 

"In  fact.  Dr.  Blimber's  establishment  was 
a  great  hot-house  in  which  there  was  a  forcing 
apparatus  incessantly  at  work.  All  the  boys 
blew  before  their  time.  Mental  green  pease 
were  produced  at  Christmas  and  intellectual 
asparagus  all  the  year  round.  Mathematical 
gooseberries  (very  sour  ones,  too)  were  com- 
mon at  untimely  seasons  and  from  mere 
sprouts  of  bushes,  under  Dr.  Blimber's  culti- 
vation. Every  description  of  Greek  and 
Latin  vegetables  were  got  ofif  the  driest  twigs 
of  boys  under  the  frostiest  circumstances.  Na- 
ture was  of  no  consequence  at  all.  No  matter 
what  a  young  gentlem'an  was  intended  to  bear, 
Dr.  Blimber  made  him  bear  to  pattern,  some- 
how or  other." 

The  satire  of  these  lines  fits  our  days  as  well 
as  those  of  Dickens.  Children  are  made  too 
much  to  "bear  to  pattern."    There  is  not  suf- 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    133 

ficient  heed  given  to  "what  they  are  intended 
to  bear."  It  is  all  right  as  far  as  bright,  vig- 
orous and  strong  children  are  concerned. 
There  the  high-pressure  systems  of  education 
may  stimulate  and  lead  to  the  unfolding  of 
the  best  strength.  But  woe  to  the  weak  child, 
which  is  driven  to  efforts  beyond  his  strength 
and  whose  life  is  made  unhappy  by  demands 
of  parent,  or  teacher,  which  he  has  not  the 
power  to  meet.  Unhappy  is  the  lot  of  the 
child  whose  education  is  meted  out  to  him, 
not  in  accordance  with  what  he  is  able  to  do, 
but  in  accordance  with  what  the  parents  or 
teacher  desires  him  to  do,  who  is  educated, 
not  for  himself,  but  for  Dombey  &  Son. 

The  results  of  Dr.  Blimber's  high-grade 
school  were  universally  admired.  When  the 
examiners  summed  up  the  examinations  passed 
by  these  pupils  with  ease,  it  seemed  a  pity  that 
the  per  cent  system  of  recognizing  merit  was 
limited  to  one  hundred.  While  this  was  the 
general  verdict,  yet  there  were  a  few  very  rare 
cases  in  which  nature  seemed  ungrateful  to 
the  "system."  There  were  instances  in  which 
this  vigorous  training  killed  the  mind,  and 
instances  in  which  it  killed  the  body.  Paul 
Dombey  was  an  illustration  of  the  latter  effect, 
young  Toots  of  the  former. 


134        The  Century  and  the  School 

"This  was  all  pleasant  and  ingenious,  but 
the  system  of  forcing  was  attended  with  its 
usual  disadvantages.  There  was  not  the  right 
taste  about  the  premature  productions,  and 
they  did  not  keep  well.  Moreover,  one  young 
gentleman  with  a  swollen  nose  and  an  exces- 
sively large  head,  the  oldest  of  the  ten,  who 
had  'gone  through'  everything,  suddenly  left 
off  blowing  one  day,  and  remained  in  the 
establishment,  a  mere  stalk.  And  people  did 
say  that  the  Doctor  had  rather  overdone  it 
with  young  Toots,  and  that  when  he  began  to 
have  whiskers  he  left  off  having  brains." 

If  we  leave  our  author  here,  it  is  not  for  the 
reason  that  our  topic — the  study  of  educa- 
tional thoughts  in  Dickens — is  exhausted. 
Comparatively  few  points  of  the  many  which 
invited  discussion  have  been  touched  upon. 
Bleak  House,  for  instance,  is  rich  in  educa- 
tional lessons.  There  is  the  telescopic  phil- 
anthropy of  Mrs.  Jellyby,  who  had  a  tender 
heart  for  sufferings  far  away,  but  none  for  her 
own  neglected  children.  The  trouble  with 
her  charity  was  that  it  did  not  begin  at  home. 
She  planned  how  to  educate  the  natives  of 
"Borrioboola  Gha,  on  the  left  bank  of  the 
Niger,"  but  allowed  her  own  little  ones  to 
grow  up  like  savages.     There  is  in  the  same 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    135 

novel  an  account  of  the  growth  of  Esther's 
grand  soul,  whose  presence  ennobled  every 
life  with  which  this  child  of  neglect  came  into 
contact.  In  David  Copperfield  also  there 
are  many  educational  threads  which  might  be 
woven  together;  the  education  of  David  Cop- 
perfield himself,  of  Traddles  and  Steerforth ; 
the  schools  of  Creakle  and  of  Dr.  Strong. 

In  conclusion,  let  us  attempt  to  sum  up  once 
more,  in  positive  form,  the  views  which  Dick- 
ens seems  to  express.  His  own  mode  of  pre- 
sentation is  necessarily  a  negative  one  because 
it  was  his  task  to  show  what  ought  not  to  be 
done  in  education;  what  teachers  and  schools 
ought  not  to  be,  rather  than  to  illustrate 
directly  what  should  be  done.  But  from  the 
very  wrongs  which  he  scourges  we  may  infer 
the  rights  and  principles  which  he  calls  upon 
parents  and  teachers  to  vindicate. 

His  novels  are  an  earnest  appeal  to  let  edu- 
cation concentrate  its  efforts  to  build  up  an 
ethical  world  in  the  child.  The  training  of 
character  should  ever  be  the  highest  aim,  and 
the  schooling  of  the  intellect  should  be  made 
subservient  to  it.  The  superiority  of  general 
human  culture  that  considers  all  the  facul- 
ties, heart  as  well  as  hand,  over  mere  mind 
training,  is  a  theme  which  modern  education 


136        The  Century  and  the  School 

should  never  forget.  It  needs  to  be  reminded 
of  it  constantly  by  public  opinion. 

He  lays  stress  on  the  training  of  the  senti- 
ments, which  is  omitted  at  times.  Even  mod- 
ern books  on  the  science  of  education  lose  sight 
of  this  factor  when  they  give  the  current  and 
faulty  definition  of  education  as  being  the 
training  of  body,  will  and  intelligence.  We 
are  so  used  to  this  definition  that  we  do  not 
realize  its  defect.  It  omits  the  factor  on 
which  Dickens  lays  so  much  stress — the  culti- 
vation of  the  heart  and  its  emotions.  No  one 
will  deny  the  importance  of  this  factor.  To 
illustrate:  It  would  be  of  little  value  to  teach 
history  if  such  lessons  appealed  to  intelligence 
only,  and  included  nothing  but  the  mere  data 
and  facts  of  history.  Instruction  in  history 
has  a  far  greater  task  to  perform :  the  cultiva- 
tion of  patriotism  and  of  the  feeling  of  rever- 
ence for  the  grand  human  qualities  of  our 
national  heroes. 

Dickens  emphasizes  also  the  child's  claim 
to  a  happy  life,  not  marred  by  demanding 
from  him  efforts  beyond  his  power,  neither  in 
respect  to  lessons,  nor  in  respect  to  conduct. 
He  demands  from  every  educator  the  recogni- 
tion of  the  principle  that  "nature  is  of  some 
consequence."     Life  is  an  echo  of  the  child's 


Educational  Ideas  in  Dickens'  Novels    137 

education.  No  forced  acquirement  can  ever 
form  a  substitute  for  a  lacking  spirit  of  kind- 
liness and  good-will  toward  others.  These 
ethical  qualities  the  treatment  of  the  child  by 
his  educator  m'ay  rouse  or  stifle. 

The  novelist  enters  a  protest  against  over- 
education,  under-education,  perverted  educa- 
tional aims,  and  educational  shams.  Child- 
nature  will  not  prosper  unless  the  faculties 
dormant  in  it  are  allowed  to  grow  in  the  sun- 
shine of  genial  teaching  and  loving  compan- 
ionship. His  body  does  not  need  the  food  of 
nature  more  urgently  than  his  heart  needs  the 
food  of  the  soul :  the  love  of  friends,  the  sym- 
pathy of  his  teachers. 

One  of  the  dangers  of  which  the  novelist 
reminds  us  is  that  of  over-education,  of  "Blim- 
berism,"  so  to  speak.  Over-education  does 
not  consist  merely  in  excessive  number  of 
studies,  but  more  particularly  in  the  attempt 
to  force  upon  the  yielding  mind  of  the  child 
that  training  which  neither  his  nature,  tastes, 
nor  future  needs  warrant.  Education  should 
not  be  made  a  forcing,  but  a  helping  process, 
through  which  a  richer  unfolding  of  the  best 
human  qualities  is  brought  about. 

The  aim  of  education,  so  again  Dickens 
teaches,  does  not  lie  outside  of  the  child   but 


138        The  Century  and  the  School 

within.  He  is  not  to  be  educated  "for  Dom- 
bey  &  Son,"  nor  to  attest  the  value  of  some 
"system,"  nor  to  become  a  living  proof  of  the 
excellence  of  Mr.  Gradgrind's  plans.  He 
should  be  educated  for  himself,  for  his  own 
sake,  that  he  may  become  the  best  and  happiest 
being  into  which  his  individuality  can  be 
developed.  The  key-note  in  all  that  Dickens 
has  written  about  education  is  that  even  in 
the  lowliest  child  slumbers  the  divine  fire  of 
truth  and  love,  of  devotion  and  enthusiasm, 
which  the  gentle  breath  of  a  parent's  or  teach- 
er's love  may  fan  into  flame.  If  this  be  true, 
we  may  place  over  the  lowliest  schoolroom 
and  the  humblest  educational  task  the  words 
of  Heraclitus:  "Enter.  Here,  too,  are  the 
gods^' 


A  VISIT  TO  GERMAN  SCHOOLS 

After  an  agreeable  ocean  voyage  we  ar- 
rived in  Antwerp.  A  day's  ride  across  Bel- 
gium brought  our  party,  late  in  the  evening, 
to  the  historic  city  of  Cologne  on  the  Rhine, 
the  metropolis  of  western  Prussia. 

Early  in  the  morning  the  merry  sound  of  a 
bugle  and  the  echoing  tread  of  marching 
soldiers  brought  us  to  the  window  to  look  at  a 
body  of  dragoons  marching  by,  looking  splen- 
did in  the  vigor  of  youth  and  in  their  new  uni- 
forms of  white  broadcloth.  It  was  a  reminder 
that  we  were  in  the  land  of  the  soldier.  A 
remark  once  made  by  Lord  Brougham  has 
often  been  quoted.  He  said:  "Let  the  soldier 
be  abroad  if  he  will,  he  can  do  nothing  in  this 
age.  There  is  another  person  less  imposing 
in  the  eyes  of  some,  perhaps  insignificant. 
The  schoolmaster  is  abroad,  and  I  trust  to 
him  armed  with  his  primer,  against  the  soldier 
in  full  military  array." 

Germany  evidently  desires  to  make  assur- 
ance doubly  sure,  by  trusting  her  national 
security  to  her  soldiers  as  well  as  to  her  school- 

139 


140       The  Century  and  the  School 

masters.  The  foreign  visitor  cannot  help 
noticing  that,  in  not  a  few  German  towns,  the 
most  striking  modern  buildings  are  the  bar- 
racks and  the  schools. 

Gymnastics 

In  the  schools  for  the  training  of  boys  mili- 
tary vigor  is  not  lost  sight  of.  There  is  no 
city  school  without  obligatory  gymnastic  in- 
struction for  both  boys  and  girls  or  without 
a  special  gymnasium  large,  airy  and  well 
equipped  with  apparatus.  Gymnastic  exer- 
cise occupies  the  same  place  on  the  program 
as  arithmetic  or  reading  and  one  can  see  some 
classes  drilling  in  the  yard  or  gymnasium  al- 
most every  hour  of  the  day.  The  effect  of 
such  training  is  visible  in  the  erect  and  trained 
step  of  the  young  people  in  the  streets.  No 
new  schoolhouse  is  erected  in  any  city  with- 
out playground  surrounding  it  sufficient  to 
afford  ample  room  for  free  physical  exercise 
to  the  whole  school  simultaneously.  The 
regular  teachers  are  qualified  to  impart 
gymnastic  instruction  by  special  training  in 
the  state  normal  school. 

Preponderance  of  Male  Teachers 

It  should  be  remembered  that  men  do  most 
of  the  teaching  in  all  the  grades  of  the  com- 


Visit  to  German  Schools  141' 

mon  schools  of  Germany.  The  proportion 
of  men  teachers  to  women  teachers  in  Prussia 
in  1 89 1  was  70,000  to  8,000  or  nine  to  one.  In 
the  United  States  the  proportion  is  one  to  two, 
or  in  other  words  about  112.000  men  teachers 
to  250,000  women. 

Religion  in  the  Public  Schools 

The  grand  Gothic  Cathedral  of  Cologne 
with  its  noble  architectural  outlines,  its  won- 
derful sculptures  in  ornament  and  statues,  had 
impressed  us  deeply  when  we  arrived.  Now 
its  powerful  organ  and  a  volume  of  voices 
that  swelled  in  choral  music  was  equally 
inviting  to  worshiper  and  sight-seer  from  a 
distant  land.  To  the  stranger  it  seemed  re- 
markable that  the  great  majority  of  worshipers 
should  be  men;  but  perhaps  this  was  owing 
to  the  fact  that  Cologne  is  a  fortress  with  an 
immense  garrison,  of  which  a  large  part  at- 
tends worship. 

Another  fact  presented  itself  to  consider- 
ation which  seemed  worthy  of  a  place  in  the 
memorandum  book  of  a  visiting  educator. 
Cologne  is  a  Roman  Catholic  city  and  most 
of  her  people  are  Catholics.  The  Protestant 
and  Catholic  religions  in  Germany,  it  may  be 
said  in  a  general  way,  are  largely  distributed 


142        The  Century  and  the  School 

by  districts  and  provinces.  There  are  many 
provinces  and  cities  in  Germany  in  which  the 
people  in  a  very  great  majority  are  Protestant 
and  but  a  small  number  are  Catholic,  and  the 
opposite  is  true  of  other  provinces  or  districts. 
The  denominations  are  less  intimately  mixed 
than  in  the  populations  of  our  large  cities. 
This  circumstance  explains  the  feasibility  of 
the  provision  made  in  Germany  for  religious 
instruction.  Religion  is  taught  in  every  pub- 
lic school  in  the  German  empire.  The  Bible 
is  read,  selections  are  explained,  biblical  his- 
tory is  studied  and  hymns  used  in  public  wor- 
ship are  committed  to  memory.  Hence  almost 
every  large  German  city  has  public  schools 
that  are  Catholic  and  public  schools  that  are 
Protestant.  Religious  instruction  is,  as  a  rule, 
imparted  by  the  regular  teacher  of  the  room. 
Religion  occupies  a  place  in  the  program  like 
any  other  study. 

Plentiful  Educational  Opportunities 

The  provisions  made  for  the  education  of 
German  youths  are  plentiful.  Theodore 
Parker  said  fifty  years  ago:  "In  this  country 
every  one  gets  a  mouthful  of  education,  but 
scarcely  any  one  a  full  meal."  If  this  was  a 
true  description  of  educational  appliances  at 


Visit  to  German  Schools  143 

that  time  it  certainly  no  longer  applies  to  the 
present  day,  when  every  boy  or  girl  gets  as 
much  educational  food  as  he  has  an  appetite 
or  a  stomach  for,  and,  at  times,  perhaps  a  little 
more.  In  Germany  the  educational  table  is 
exceedingly  well  supplied  and  the  children, 
especially  in  schools  of  higher  order,  are  per- 
haps a  little  overfed  with  mental  pabulum. 

There  is  compulsory  education,  by  which 
a  boy  is  kept  in  school  not  only  to  his  four- 
teenth year,  but  is  furthermore  constrained, 
after  leaving  the  public  school,  to  continue  in 
what  is  called  "common  school  extension"  for 
three  years  longer.  The  sessions  of  these 
common  school  extensions  {Fortbildungs- 
schulen)  take  place,  of  course,  in  the  evenings. 
Even  without  these  compulsory  laws,  there 
would  be  the  widest  dissemination  of  knowl- 
edge because  the  Germans  thoroughly  believe 
in  the  importance  of  education.  No  visitor 
can  fail  to  notice  the  high  appreciation  in 
which  public  schools  are  held  by  the  people. 
They  appreciate  their  influence,  but,  on  the 
other  hand,  they  do  not  make  the  mistake  to 
expect  too  much  of  the  school.  They  realize 
that  school  work  should  have  the  support  of 
good  family  training.  Beecher  gave  a  very 
good  statement  of  the  powers  and  the  limita- 


144        The  Century  and  the  School 

tions  of  school  training.  He  said:  "We  know 
that  the  gifts  which  men  have  do  not  come 
from  the  schools.  If  a  man  is  a  plain  literal 
factual  man,  you  can  make  a  great  deal  more 
of  him  in  his  own  line  by  education  than  with- 
out education,  just  as  you  can  make  a  great 
deal  more  of  a  potato  if  you  cultivate  it  than 
if  you  do  not:  but  no  cultivation  in  this  world 
will  ever  make  an  apple  out  of  a  potato." 

Classification  of  Schools 

A  classification  of  the  public  schools  in  the 
United  States  could  be  made  both  brief  and 
plain.  Not  so  in  Germany.  There  are  so 
many  kinds  and  grades  of  schools  with  so 
many  different  appellations,  dififerent  aims 
and  different  courses  of  study,  that  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  arrive  at  any  valid  classification. 

We  might,  in  the  first  place,  distinguish 
two  great  classes  of  schools  below  the  univer- 
sity, finishing  schools  and  fitting  schools.  Not 
that  these  or  similar  terms  are  ever  used  in 
Germany,  but  they  will  help  us  to  remember 
that  there  is  one  class  of  schools  whose  aim  it 
is  to  prepare  the  pupils  for  life,  and  another 
to  fit  them  for  the  university. 

Preparation  for  College 

German  schools  which  fit  boys  for  admis- 


Visit  to  German  Schools  145 

sion  to  the  university  (and  until  recently  there 
were  no  such  schools  for  girls)  differ  from 
American  high  schools  in  an  important  re- 
spect. The  American  high  school  receives 
the  pupil  in  his  thirteenth  or  fourteenth  year 
and  after  he  has  finished  the  work  of  the 
common  schools.  The  German  Gymnasium, 
which  is  the  name  given  to  the  fitting  school, 
takes  pupils  nine  years  old,  or  younger,  after 
they  have  finished  the  primary  grade. 

In  American  schools  the  future  college  boy 
received  his  first  education  in  common  with 
the  other  children  that  are  not  to  go  to  college. 
In  Germany,  on  the  contrary,  the  college  boy 
is  educated  in  special  schools  from  almost  the 
very  beginning  of  his  career.  For  the  Ger- 
man boy  who  has  finished  the  common  school 
there  is  no  longer  any  university  education 
possible.  He  must  decide  when  he  is  about 
nine  years  old  whether  or  not  he  is  going  to  the 
university.  His  future  calling  must  be  deter- 
mined at  a  very  much  earlier  age  and  perhaps 
before  his  talents  and  inclinations  have  fully 
manifested  themselves.  The  wishes,  tradi- 
tions and  social  rank  of  the  family  usually 
decide  the  matter.  It  should  be  remembered, 
that  in  order  to  follow  any  profession  whatso- 
ever, whether  that  of  minister,  physician, 
10 


146        nrhe  Century  and  the  School 

lawyer,  or  teacher  in  higher  schools,  it  is 
requisite,  in  Germany,  to  be  a  university 
graduate.  If  a  boy  wishes  to  go  to  the  uni- 
versity he  must  enter  a  gymnasium  or  classic 
high  school  when  he  is  nine  or  ten  years  old 
and  remain  there  for  about  eight  years. 

The  People's  School 

Leaving  for  the  present  the  "Gymnasia"  or 
classic  high  schools  preparing  for  the  uni- 
versity, we  return  to  the  much  larger  class  of 
schools,  which  we  designated  before  as 
"finishing  schools."  None  of  the  pupils  of 
these  schools  could  ever  enter  the  university, 
although  the  course  of  study  of  some  of  them 
covers  the  same  number  of  years  as  the  gym- 
nasium. These  schools  prepare  for  life,  and 
in  accordance  with  the  humbler  or  more 
responsible  position  the  child  is  expected  to 
fill,  that  is  to  say,  in  accordance  with  the  social 
position  and  aspirations  of  the  parents.  The 
course  of  study  of  the  finishing  schools  may  be 
simple  or  more  complicated.  There  are  in 
every  city  public  schools  in  which  merely  the 
rudiments  are  taught  and  other  public  schools 
in  which  the  course  of  study  is  much  richer. 

According  to  the  more  or  less  extended 
course  of  study  in   these  schools,   we   may 


Visit  to  German  Schools  147 

recognize  two  classes.  One  is  the  so-called 
"People's  School"  in  which  the  course  is  re- 
duced to  that  circle  of  information  which  the 
government  considers  absolutely  necessary 
and  without  which  no  citizen  of  the  state 
should  be  allowed  to  grow  up.  All  the  coun- 
try schools  and  the  lowest  grade  of  town  and 
city  schools  belong  to  this  class.  The  people's 
school  in  many  of  the  villages  is  a  one-room 
school  and  from  thirty  to  eighty  children 
may  be  taught  by  one  teacher.  In  cities 
the  people's  schools  are  graded  and  taught 
similarly  to  our  own  schools.  The  subjects 
of  instruction  for  the  lower  schools  are  re- 
ligion, the  three  R's,  geometry  and  the  ele- 
ments of  geography,  history  and  natural 
history,  all  these  with  special  reference  to  the 
child's  environment,  and  of  the  town  and 
province  in  which  he  lives.  To  this  must  be 
added  lessons  in  singing,  drawing,  with  gym- 
nastics for  the  boys  and  needlework  for  the 
girls.  It  will  be  seen  at  a  glance  that  the 
course  of  even  the  lowest  schools  is  varied 
and  rich. 

The  second  class  of  the  "finishing"  schools 
is  peculiar  to  city  life.  They  are  called 
"Middle  Schools"  because  they  are  intended 
not  so  much  for  the  needs  of  the  rural  people 


(148        The  Century  and  the  School 

or  the  laboring  population,  but  for  the  so- 
called  middle  classes  in  towns  and  cities.  We 
have  arrived  at  the  following  preliminary 
classification:  Gymnasia,  common  schools 
(or  people's  schools)  and  middle  schools. 

The  middle  schools  differ  from  the  peo- 
ple's schools  in  their  longer  list  of  studies  and 
their  extended  course  of  instruction.  It  ap- 
pears from  this  definition  that  there  is  a  large 
number  of  kinds  of  middle  schools,  differing 
in  the  list  of  their  studies  and  the  number  of 
grades  in  their  course.  The  middle  schools 
exist  in  the  German  cities  side  by  side  with 
the  people's  school,  so  that  the  parent  has 
the  choice  between  more  or  less  extended 
courses  of  instruction  for  his  child.  There  is 
an  obligation  for  every  parent  to  give  his  child 
at  least  the  minimum  of  an  education,  such  as 
the  people's  school  imparts,  but  there  is  no 
obligation  to  give  him  the  fuller  education  of 
the  middle  schools.  Yet  in  the  large  cities 
the  latter  class  is  more  numerous  than  the 
former,  although  all  public  schools,  of  higher 
grade,  charge  a  tuition  fee.  There  is  no  obli- 
gation to  any  municipality  to  maintain  schools 
higher  than  the  people's  schools,  but  there  is 
hardly  any  city  without  middle  schools.  The 
support  of  the  people  to  the  educational  plans 


Visit  to  German  Schools  149 

of  the  government  is  hearty,  spontaneous  and 
liberal.  They  maintain  schools  much  above 
the  grade  prescribed  by  the  government. 

The  middle  school  has  been  defined  by 
the  Prussian  Secretary  of  Education  as  "that 
school  which,  on  one  side,  aims  at  a  higher 
education  than  can  be  given  in  the  graded 
people's  school,  and  which,  on  the  other  hand, 
considers  more  particularly  the  demands  of 
industrial  life  and  of  the  so-called  middle 
classes."  At  least  one  foreign  language  is 
studied  in  these  middle  schools,  usually 
French.  In  the  more  advanced  middle 
schools  English  is  added.  While  in  the  village 
schools  boys  and  girls  are  taught  together  in 
the  same  room,  there  is,  as  a  rule,  no  co-edu- 
cation in  cities,  but  the  schools  for  the  sexes 
are  of  about  the  same  rank  and  take  the  same 
studies. 

It  should  be  remembered,  however,  that- 
this  is  true  for  the  finishing  schools  only. 
Women  are  not  admitted  to  the  German  uni- 
versities and  until  a  short  time  ago  there  was 
not  a  single  gymnasium  for  girls. 

The  results  obtained  in  modern  languages 
in  some  of  the  middle  schools  are  quite  good 
and  the  teachers  frequently  use  the  French  or 
English  language  in  the  explanation  of  the 


'150       The  Century  and  the  School 

authors  studied  in  class.  In  one  of  the  girls' 
schools  in  Frankfort  I  heard  a  class  read, 
translate  and  analyze  a  difficult  selection  of 
iMilton's  Paradise  Lost.  The  pupils  showed 
a  thorough  familiarity  with  the  higher 
English  vocabulary  and  the  finer  shades  of 
meaning. 

The  results  of  such  liberal  school  training 
is  manifest  in  social  life.  I  met  a  surprisingly 
large  number  of  people  in  Berlin,  for  instance, 
who  could  talk  English  very  fluently  but  had 
never  been  outside  of  Germany.  The  people's 
schools  and  the  lower  classes  of  the  middle 
schools  are,  as  a  rule,  taught  by  men  who  are 
normal  school  graduates,  the  higher  classes  of 
the  middle  schools  by  university  graduates. 

Spirit  of  the  German  Schools 

I  visited  all  kinds  of  schools  in  Germany, 
the  village  schools  in  Thuringia,  the  city 
schools  of  Cologne,  Frankfort  and  Darmstadt. 
I  attended  lectures  at  the  University  of  Berlin. 
I  looked  into  the  whittling  and  wood-carv- 
ing schools  of  the  Bavarian  Alps.  But  what 
impressed  me  most  forcibly,  above  all  other 
admirable  things,  was  the  earnestness,  energy 
and  the  skill  in  handling  methods,  which  the 
common  school  teacher  displayed  everywhere. 


Visit  to  German  Schools  151 

There  was  a  full  comprehension  and  prac- 
tical appreciation  of  what  may  be  called  the 
educational  creed  of  Germany,  namely,  that 
the  aim  of  the  school  should  be  education 
rather  than  knowledge.  There  seemed  to  be 
an  understanding  of  the  main  purpose  of  edu- 
cation, such  as  Sydney  Smith  suggests  in  his 
well-known  saying:  ''The  real  object  of  edu- 
cation is  to  give  children  resources  that  will 
endure  as  long  as  life  endures;  habits  that 
time  will  ameliorate,  not  destroy;  occupation 
that  will  render  sickness  tolerable,  solitude 
pleasant,  age  venerable,  life  more  dignified 
and  useful  and  death  less  terrible." 

There  is  not  as  much  subject-matter  studied 
as  we  do  in  our  lower  schools,  less  arithmetic, 
less  grammar,  less  geography  and  history. 
But  there  is  more  drill  and  practice  on  the 
topics  studied.  Whatever  is  taken  up  is  well 
digested  through  questioning,  practice  and 
thought.  The  American  visitor  notices  that 
there  is  a  greater  variety  in  the  intellectual 
bill  of  fare  placed  before  the  child  than  with 
us,  although  the  several  dishes  of  the  intellec- 
tual meal  are  less  elaborate  and  full.  Geom- 
etry and  natural  science,  for  instance,  are 
taught  in  every  village  school.  Nor  are  they 
reserved  for  higher  grades.      Much  of  the 


152        The  Century  and  the  School 

teaching  is  done  in  what  is  called  "concentric 
circles."  Natural  science  is  taught  in  the 
lowest  grade,  but  each  succeeding  year,  while 
moving  round  the  same  center,  makes  the 
topics  more  complete  and  comprehensive. 

The  world  which  surrounds  the  child  is 
clearly  set  before  his  mind's  eye  and  made 
more  familiar  and  intelligible  to  him.  Arith- 
metic deals  with  those  simple  problems  of 
buying  and  selling,  of  fractions  and  decimals, 
of  proportion  and  percentage,  which  occur  in 
every-day  life:  within  the  narrow  circle  of 
these  operations,  quick  thinking  is  appealed 
to  constantly  and  practice  leads  to  perfection. 
Geography  begins  with  a  child's  home,  locates 
the  neighboring  villages  and  streams  and  in- 
cludes a  thorough  drill  on  the  geography  of 
his  own  country.  The  visible  movements  of 
the  heavens,  the  shape  and  movements  of  the 
earth,  are  made  intelligible  by  actual  observa- 
tion. A  boy  must  use  his  senses  and  his  wits 
to  excel  and  it  looked  to  me  as  if  his  success  in 
school  was  made  as  much  dependent  on  these 
as  on  his  industry.  But  the  principal  work 
of  the  village  school  centers  around  the 
reader.  In  the  conversations  grouped  around 
the  reading  lessons,  the  child  gets  a  glimpse 
at  the  government  of  the  country  and  learns, 


Visit  to  German  Schools  153 

feelingly,  his  duties  towards  the  parent, 
towards  his  neighbor  and  his  country.  There 
is  the  closest  communion  of  soul  between 
teacher  and  pupil.  With  the  exception  of 
the  recital  of  hymns  or  poems  committed  to 
memory,  I  witnessed  nowhere  what  we  call 
"a  recitation."  There  are  no  text-books,  in 
one  sense  of  the  word,  in  the  people's  schools. 
They  have  an  arithmetic,  but  it  is  simply  a 
collection  of  examples.  They  have  a  geog- 
raphy, but  it  is  simply  a  collection  of  maps. 
There  are  no  lessons  assigned  except  some 
copying,  essay-writing,  map-drawing,  prac- 
tice on  examples  taught  in  school  and  the  like. 
AH  the  teaching  and  drill  takes  place  in 
schools  by  the  teacher. 

The  aim  of  public  schools  has  been  va- 
riously defined.  With  us  it  has  been  cus- 
tomary to  lay  stress  on  the  importance  of 
education  for  the  preservation  of  the  state. 
That  was  the  idea  which  the  father  of  our 
country  connected  with  education.  His 
words  are  well  known :  "Promote  as  an  object 
of  primary  importance  institutions  for  the 
general  diffusion  of  knowledge.  In  pro- 
portion as  the  structure  of  the  government 
gives  force  to  public  opinion,  it  should  be 
enlightened." 


154        The  Century  and  the  School 

Two  sayings  of  Horace  Mann  tend  in  the 
same  direction :  "Schoolhouses  are  the  repub- 
lican line  of  fortifications,"  and  again  "Edu- 
cation is  our  only  political  safety.     Outside^ 
of  this  ark,  all  is  deluge." 

The  German  official  definition  of  the  aim 
of  the  people's  school  lays  rather  more  stress 
on  the  ethical  side  than  on  the  political.  It 
says:  "The  people's  school  aims  at  imparting 
to  youth,  thorough  instruction,  practice  and 
education,  the  principles  of  religious,  ethical 
and  national  culture  and  the  general  knowl- 
edge and  acquirements  that  are  necessary  for 
social  life." 

The  personnel  of  the  German  teacher  in  the 
primary  schools  did  not  seem  to  be  equal  to 
that  found  in  the  corresponding  grade  of  our 
own  schools,  at  least  not  in  regard  to  social 
culture  and  general  information.  But  there 
is  in  every  case  superior  musical  culture,  and 
a  most  thorough  understanding  of  methods 
of  teaching.  Even  in  the  village  schools 
admirable  professional  skill  was  displayed. 
There  was  a  distinct  plan  evident  in  every  step 
of  teaching.  The  normal  schools,  in  which 
all  the  teachers  of  the  lower  schools  are  edu- 
cated, are  doing  invaluable  service  to  the  Ger- 
man schools. 


Visit  to  German  Schools  155 

The  philosophy  of  education  is  evidently 
thoroughly  studied  and,  what  is  still  more 
remarkable,  is  carried  into  practice.  I  can- 
not pass  this  topic  without  directing  attention 
to  the  movement,  new  in  our  country,  towards 
the  study  of  the  greatest  educational  phil- 
osopher of  the  last  century,  Herbart.  His 
ideas  of  concentration  of  instruction  and  the 
rousing  of  a  many-sided  interest  in  the 
pupil  are  among  the  most  fruitful  peda- 
gogic thoughts. 

A  few  of  the  most  striking  details  of  the 
German  common  schools  may  here  be  noticed 
in  a  passing  way.  There  is,  in  the  first  place, 
a  steady  adjustment  of  instruction  to  the  sur- 
roundings of  the  child  and  to  his  future  posi- 
tion in  life.  School  teaching  is  full  of  moral 
and  civic  ideals,  but  it  is  also  eminently  prac- 
tical. In  the  simple  natural  history  the  pupil 
studies  the  class  characteristics  of  some  few 
typical  specimens  of  the  animal  world,  the 
birds  and  quadrupeds  which  he  has  occasion 
to  observe  in  his  home. 

The  botanical  lessons  extend  to  the  study  of 
useful  and  hurtful  plants,  the  grains,  the 
forest  trees,  the  coffee  plant,  the  tobacco  plant, 
etc.  The  child  learns  to  know  the  minerals 
of  his  district,  their  characteristics  and  their 


156        The  Century  and  the  School 

place  in  a  natural  system,  and  is  able  to  give 
an  account  of  them.  Often  on  my  wanderings 
over  the  hills  near  the  watering  place  of  Kis- 
singen,  I  met  classes  of  country  boys  with 
their  teacher  botanizing  and  studying  nature. 
It  is  a  very  frequent  form  of  amusement  for 
the  boys  to  make  collections  of  minerals,  but- 
terflies, bugs,  etc.,  and  these  remain  a  source 
of  interest  to  them  until  they  grow  to  man- 
hood. 

The  Teacher's  Influence  on  the  Home 

Teachers  hold  their  office  through  life.  In 
consequence  the  same  teacher  not  infrequently 
has  educated  two  generations  of  the  same 
family  and  enjoys  unbounded  personal  con- 
fidence and  respect,  not  to  say  veneration.  He 
knows  the  family  circumstances  of  every 
pupil.  School  and  home  are  kept  in  close 
educational  touch  by  this  relation.  It  is  the 
universal  policy  of  every  German  family  to 
instil  respect  for  the  teacher,  and  this  helps 
the  discipline  of  the  school. 

Examinations 

Written  examinations  used  to  be  unknown 
in  the  common  schools,  yet  I  have  seen  some 
conducted  in  the  schools  of  Berlin.     Even  in 


Visit  to  German  Schools  157 

this  detail  pedagogical  tact  is  manifested.  In 
several  rooms  of  the  school  that  I  visited,  the 
teacher  would  give  out  a  question,  but  would 
not  allow  the  children  to  touch  their  pens. 
They  were  required  to  listen,  then  were  given 
a  moment  or  two  to  reflect,  and  then  the  com- 
mand was  given :  "Take  your  pens  and  write." 
It  seems  a  little  device,  but  it  secured  very 
thoughtful  work  on  the  paper. 

Visiting  Days 

The  school  attempts  to  remain  in  close  touch 
with  the  home.  In  cases  of  discipline  the 
teacher  sends  for  the  parent,  so  that  they 
may  consult  together  in  regard  to  the 
special  treatment  that  the  child  should  receive 
at  home,  in  order  to  second  the  efforts  of  the 
school.  Home  reports  are  given  out  at  reg- 
ular intervals,  as  in  our  own  schools.  From 
time  to  time  a  "visiting  day"  is  appointed, 
when  the  parents  are  urgently  requested  to 
come  to  the  school  to  witness  a  day's  work. 
No  preparation  whatever  is  made  for  this  day 
except  the  placing  of  chairs  in  each  room. 
The  daily  prayer  is  not  departed  from  and  the 
recitations  go  on  as  usual.  There  are  per- 
haps a  few  more  review  questions  asked  than 
ordinarily. 


158        The  Century  and  the  School 

The  advantages  of  these  "visiting  days"  are 
obvious.  The  parents  become  acquainted 
iV^ith  the  character  and  method  of  the  work 
Hone  in  every  school,  and  with  the  teachers. 

In  Germany,  the  graded  city  school,  witH 
the  exception  of  the  primary  grade,  divides 
the  work  among  the  teachers,  not  by  rooms  but 
by  subjects.  That  is  to  say,  there  is  a  teacher 
iwho  teaches  arithmetic  most  of  the  time  and 
changes  rooms  with  every  recitation.  An- 
other teacher  teaches  reading,  another  natural 
science  and  so  forth.  The  regular  teacher  of 
the  room  frequently  teaches  more  lessons  than 
the  others,  but  when  he  has  finished  these  he 
goes  to  some  other  room  to  teach  there. 
Teachers  change  rooms,  classes  do  not.  Every 
class  of  the  common  schools  in  German  cities 
is  taught,  not  by  one,  but  by  a  number  of 
teachers.  The  chief  advantages  claimed  for 
this  plan  are  that  teachers  are  employed  in 
the  specific  work  which  they  do  best  and  that 
the  child  continues  the  study  of  the  same  sub- 
ject, arithmetic  for  instance,  with  the  same 
teacher  for  years,  thus  securing  connected 
work  and  undivided  responsibility  for  results. 

On  these  visiting  days,  therefore,  the  parent 
becomes  personally  acquainted  with  the  whole 
corps  of  teachers  of  a  school.     It  is  the  day 


Visit  to  German  Schools  159 

when  they  can  confer  with  the  principals  and 
get  advice.  The  teacher  in  turn  obtains  a 
glimpse  of  the  home  surroundings  of  the  child. 

Public  Games 

Every  means  is  used  to  make  the  children 
manly  and  strong.  Excursions  by  the  school 
into  the  country  for  recreation  and  instruc- 
tion are  not  infrequent. 

In  the  city  of  Frankfort  public  games  for 
school  children  are  frequently  arranged  for 
Saturday  afternoon  where  the  boys  of  various 
schools  compete  in  manly  exercises,  ball  games 
and  similar  sport.  The  school  board  makes 
an  appropriation  for  this  purpose  and  the 
teachers  are  present.  While  attendance  is 
voluntary,  the  square  or  park  is  crowded  with 
visitors  and  children  and  they  enter  into  the 
games  with  enthusiastic  zeal.  Participation 
in  these  games  is  voluntary  but  children  that 
volunteer  at  the  beginning  of  the  year  are 
obliged  to  continue. 

Swimming 

Wherever  circumstances  permit  lessons  in 
swimming  are  provided  and  the  whole  school, 
under  the  supervision  of  their  teacher,  goes  to 
the  river  or  lake  regularly  several  mornings 


i6o        The  Century  and  the  School 

every  week.     There  are  swimming  schools  for 
girls  as  well  as  swimming  schools  for  the  boys. 

Sanitary  Measures 

In  Darmstadt  I  found  that  in  some  schools, 
located  in  the  poorer  part  of  the  city,  provision 
was  made  in  the  school  basement  for  warm 
baths.  Divisions  of  children  were  sent  down 
during  school  hours,  under  proper  super- 
vision, to  enjoy  a  comfort  which  the  poorer 
homes  perhaps  could  not  afford. 

The  city  schools  of  Frankfort  are  supplied 
with  adjustable  desks.  Several  times  during 
the  year  the  medical  examiner  visits  the  school 
buildings,  measures  the  height  of  each  pupil 
and  writes  on  the  desk  of  the  latter,  the  height 
to  which  the  desk  must  be  adjusted.  Until 
the  next  visit  of  the  examiner  each  pupil  keeps 
the  seat  thus  assigned  to  him. 

Buildings 

The  common  school  buildings  from  an 
architectural  standpoint  seem  superior  to 
ours.  The  interior  arrangement  and  appoint- 
ments of  the  rooms  I  did  not  like  so  well. 
The  rooms  seemed  smaller  than  ours;  there 
are  as  a  rule  but  one  or  two  wooden  black- 
boards placed  on  easels  in  each  room.     In  not 


Visit  to  German  Schools  i6i 

a  few  cases, ^even  in  new  school  buildings,  the 
wraps  of  the  pupils  were  hung  on  the  walls  of 
the  schoolroom.  Nor  did  the  ventilation  of 
some  rooms  seem  perfect,  but,  it  should  be 
remembered,  it  is  hazardous  to  generalize 
from  the  comparatively  few  rooms  which  we 
can  visit  in  the  course  of  a  few  months. 

The  building  and  the  grounds,  however, 
seemed  superior  to  the  average  building  with 
us.  They  are,  as  a  rule,  large  enough  for  the 
whole  school  to  play  and  exercise  simulta- 
neously. At  the  end  of  every  recitation  a  re- 
cess of  about  ten  minutes  is  given  in  the  yard. 
The  school  hours  are  longer  than  they  are  with 
us.  In  one  of  the  higher  schools,  classes  were 
kept  practically  at  work  from  seven  to  twelve 
and  from  two  to  five. 

The  schools  rank  high  in  public  favor  and 
private  munificence  often  supplies  the  wants 
of  the  poorer  children.  Thus  I  noticed  in  one 
of  the  school  reports  a  record  of  a  gift  of 
$25,000  to  buy  clothes  for  needy  children. 

Private  schools  and  public  schools  are  alike 
under  the  supervision  of  the  state,  whose 
officers  visit  them  regularly  for  inspection  and 
examination.  In  the  conduct  of  the  schools 
local  and  government  authority  mingle.  The 
state  prescribes  a  minimum  of  requirements 
II 


■i62        The  Century  and  the  School 

in  regard  to  schoolhouses,  courses  of  study, 
school  apparatus,  teacher's  salary,  etc.,  which 
the  community  must  meet;  but  there  are  very 
few  towns  which  are  not  in  advance  of  this 
minimum  requirement.  Among  the  school 
commissioners  of  large  cities  there  is  a  presid- 
ing government  officer,  a  lawyer  and  some 
other  permanently  appointed  government 
magistrates;  the  rest  are  delegated  by  the  city 
council. 

Tuition 

The  German  public  schools  are  not  free  in 
our  sense  of  the  word;  a  tuition  fee  is  charged 
in  most  of  them,  especially  those  whose  course 
of  study  rises  above  the  rudiments.  The  fix- 
ing of  the  tuition  fee  is  left  with  the  municipal 
commissioners,  but  the  government  prescribes 
a  minimum  beyond  which  the  school  author- 
ities cannot  charge.  For  towns  of  less  than 
6000  inhabitants  it  is  less  than  $2.00  per  year. 

In  some  larger  cities  tuition  in  the  lowest 
class  of  the  schools  is  made  absolutely  free, 
while  an  increasing  tuition  rate  is  charged  for 
all  schools  of  higher  order.  Special  pro- 
vision is  made,  however,  for  poor  people,  so 
that  their  children  are  not  excluded  from  the 
benefits  of  a  higher  education,  if  they  choose 
to  avail  themselves  of  it. 


Visit  to  German  Schools  163 

The  Teacher's  Position 

We  now  turn  for  a  moment  to  what  will  per- 
haps interest  many  of  us,  to  the  tenure  of  office 
of  the  German  teacher,  and  we  find  two  strik- 
ing features  on  which  we  might  dwell  for  a 
moment:  The  absolute  security  of  the  teacher's 
tenure  of  office  and  his  independence  from 
the  caprice  of  local  school  boards. 

Appointment  of  Teachers 

All  appointments  are  made  first  on  proba- 
tion and  then  after  a  fixed  time  become 
permanent.  In  Prussia  all  teachers  of  schools 
of  higher  order  must  pass  through  a  year  of 
probation. 

Teachers  of  the  primary  or  people's  schools, 
after  passing  their  first  government  examina- 
tion, teach  for  a  period  of  no  less  than  two, 
nor  more  than  five  years,  subject  to  discharge 
by  the  local  school  authorities.  After  this 
probationary  period  he  passes  a  second  gov- 
ernment examination,  and  then  receives  a 
permanent  and  irrevocable  appointment. 
While  he  is  appointed  by  the  local  school 
board,  after  being  once  permanently  ap- 
pointed, he  no  longer  holds  his  place  at  their 
pleasure,  subject  to  periodic  reelection,  but  as 
a  government  officer,  who  may  be  removed 


164        The  Century  and  the  School 

against  his  will  only  by  trial  In  the  courts  or 
by  the  disciplinary  committee  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

Not  the  local  board,  but  the  government 
has  the  right  to  decide  whether  an  appoint- 
ment shall  be  probationary  or  permanent. 

The  school  superintendents  or  supervisors 
are  government  officers,  not  dependent  on  the 
good  will  of  the  local  board,  whose  schools 
they  supervise,  and  whose  actions  they  may  be 
called  upon  to  censure  or  reverse. 
Teachers'  Examinations 

The  examination  of  all  teachers  is  conducted 
by  government  officers.  In  a  general  way  it 
may  be  said  that  all  the  teachers  in  the  people's 
schools  are  normal  graduates,  whose  final  nor- 
mal school  examination  qualifies  them  for 
probationary  appointment.  This  examination 
is  both  written  and  oral.  It  consists  of  one 
composition  on  an  educational  or  literary  sub- 
ject, and  another  on  some  topic  of  religious 
instruction.  Three  examples  in  arithmetic 
and  geometry  must  be  worked  out  and  one 
question  in  each  of  the  studies  of  history, 
science  and  geography  must  be  answered. 
The  candidate  may  be  examined  at  his  option 
in  some  foreign  language,  to  obtain  a  higher 
grade. 


Visit  to  German  Schools  165 

The  oral  examination  consists,  in  the  first 
place,  of  some  trial  teaching  in  the  presence 
of  the  examiners.  The  subject  is  assigned  to 
the  candidate  two  days  previously  and  he  must 
file  a  written  synopsis  of  the  proposed  lesson 
before  he  gives  it  to  the  children. 

The  rest  of  the  oral  examination  extends 
over  all  the  normal  school  studies,  i.e.,  Science 
and  history  of  education,  school  manage- 
ment, Bible  lessons,  language  and  literature, 
history,  arithmetic  and  geometry,  the  elements 
of  natural  history,  physics  and  chemistry, 
geography,  drawing,  penmanship,  gymnastics, 
music,  including  the  piano,  organ  and  violin. 
The  village  teacher,  as  a  rule,  is  required  to 
play  the  organ  in  the  church  on  Sundays. 

The  second  examination  takes  place  after 
the  young  teacher  has  taught  on  probation 
from  two  to  five  years,  and  precedes  the 
permanent  appointment.  Its  topics  are  taken 
from  the  practical  work  of  the  schoolroom 
and  the  history  and  science  of  education.  The 
Examining  Government  Commission  issues 
to  the  successful  candidate  a  certificate  which 
declares  him  qualified  for  permanent  appoint- 
ment. When  once  so  appointed,  no  local 
board  can  remove  him.  He  is  a  government 
officer. 


1 66       The  Century  and  the  School 

For  the  high  classes  of  the  so-called  middle 
class  school,  more  advanced  examinations  are 
required  and  the  positions  there  are  chiefly 
held  by  university  men,  theologians  or  philol- 
ogists. 

University  Influence 

In  this  connection  a  word  might  be  said  of 
the  great  influence  which  the  twenty  univer- 
sities exert  on  the  German  schools,  or  in  fact 
on  every  phase  of  German  life. 

There  is  no  way  to  any  of  the  professions  of 
theology,  of  law,  medicine  or  teaching  in  the 
higher  grade  schools,  except  through  the  uni- 
versity. Most  of  the  chemists,  pharmacists, 
engineers,  higher  civil  officers,  etc.,  have  a 
university  education.  There  is  no  way  of 
entering  the  university  except  through  the  clas- 
sic schools,  the  gymnasium  with  its  extensive 
Latin  and  Greek  courses,  or  the  Realschule, 
in  which  modern  languages  are  substituted 
for  Greek.  It  will  be  seen  that  classical  edu- 
cation spreads  through  almost  every  rank  of 
life  and  that  the  leading  men  in  the  German 
communities  have  a  university  education.  In 
the  city  schools,  the  principals,  all  the  teach- 
ers in  the  gymnasia,  and  many  of  the  teachers 
in  the  middle  and  lower  schools  are  university 
men. 


Visit  to  German  Schools  167 

While  with  us  the  old  idea  still  lingers  in 
a  few  places  that  a  higher  education  is  desir- 
able as  a  foundation  for  the  acquirement  of 
a  profession,  in  Germany  the  opinion  pre- 
vails in  practice  that  no  one  is  fit  for  leading 
professions  who  does  not  have  a  university 
education.  The  idea,  especially,  that  a  good 
education  unfits  a  man  for  manual  labor  and 
the  life  of  a  worker,  is  not  found  in  that  coun- 
try. Public  opinion  tends  somewhat  in  the 
direction  of  Bishop  Whately's  sentiment, 
which  we  may  be  allowed  to  quote :  "Any  one 
who  says  with  Mandeville,  *If  a  horse  knew 
as  much  as  a  man,  I  should  not  like  to  be  his 
rider,'  ought  to  add,  'If  a  man  knew  as  little 
as  a  horse,  I  should  not  like  to  trust  him  to 
ride.' " 

The  civil  service  rules  of  the  government 
lay  great  stress  on  higher  education  as  a  con- 
dition for  appointment  to  any  higher  office  in 
the  administrative,  postal,  telegraph  and 
transportation  departments. 

For  graduates  of  the  gymnasia  and  other 
higher  schools,  the  rigidly  required  three 
years  of  military  service  are  reduced  to  one. 
All  these  influences  tend  to  make  higher  edu- 
cation in  Germany  both  valuable  and  profit- 
able. 


i68        The  Century  and  the  School 

Universities 

It  is  beyond  the  scope  and  possibility  of  the 
present  paper  to  give  a  description  of  the  Ger- 
man university.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  it  has 
a  double  function,  namely,  to  teach  the  youths 
that  have  left  the  classical  school,  and  second, 
to  cultivate  and  advance  science  in  every 
department.  Appointment  to  the  university 
takes  place  on  the  sole  basis  of  eminence  in 
scholarship,  manifested  by  original  literary 
or  scientific  work.  The  university  duties  of 
the  professors  are  such  as  to  encourage  orig- 
inal research  on  the  part  of  the  professors  and 
students  by  giving  every  facility  in  regard  to 
libraries,  apparatus  and  laboratories,  by  allow- 
ing much  time  for  study  and  by  giving  to  every 
individual,  especially  in  the  teaching  corps, 
the  greatest  freedom  of  scope. 

Pensions 

The  low  salaries  which  the  German  gov- 
ernment pays  to  subordinate  officers,  especially 
to  the  teachers  in  the  public  schools,  has  given 
rise  to  the  idea  that  the  government  must  take 
care  of  them  in  their  old  age,  for  which  their 
salaries  are  insufficient  to  provide. 

Teachers  who  become  permanently  inca- 
pacitated to  fulfil  their  duties  on  account  of 


Visit  to  German  Schools  169 

physical  or  mental  infirmities  may  be  pen- 
sioned on  their  request,  or,  where  deemed 
proper,  without  it.  If  a  teacher  is  pensioned 
during  the  first  ten  years  of  service  the  pension 
is  forty  per  cent  of  his  salary.  For  every 
further  year  of  service  one  and  a  half  per  cent 
is  added,  until  the  pension  reaches  the  full 
amount  of  the  salary.  Superannuated  teach- 
ers may  claim  a  pension  without  the  plea  of 
infirmity. 

In  the  matter  of  pensioning  the  government 
bears  the  main  burden.  In  Prussia  the  gov- 
ernment pays  fifty-nine,  and  the  municipal- 
ities thirty-six  per  cent  of  the  total  amount, 
five  per  cent  coming  from  other  sources. 

Government  Care 

While  the  appointment  of  teachers  is  left 
with  the  local  board  of  trustees,  the  govern- 
ment prescribes  the  minimum  salary  to  which 
every  teacher  is  entitled,  and  which  is  graded 
by  the  number  of  inhabitants  of  a  district. 
Sometimes  private  munificence  helps  the  gov- 
ernment in  improving  salaries.  Thus,  a  Coun- 
cilor May,  who  died  in  1808,  left  his  fortune 
as  a  joint  and  permanent  legacy  to  all  the 
teachers  of  his  county  who  received  less  than 
300  florins  per  year  and  the  interest  has  been 


170        The  Century  and  the  School 

distributed  in  this  way  for  nearly  a  century. 

In  many  of  the  German  states  the  salaries 
are  made  progressive  with  the  years  of  service, 
rising  in  instances  from  1350  marks  for  the 
first  five  years  to  2500  marks  after  the  twenty- 
fifth  year  of  service.  The  salaries  are  gen- 
erally low  and  inadequate,  the  average  salary 
for  country  teachers  being  $320,  for  city  teach- 
ers $460.  This  is  not  the  total  income,  because 
each  teacher  is  entitled  to  some  reimbursement 
for  house-rent. 

Conclusion 

We  Have  finished  the  bird's-eye  view  of 
German  educational  institutions  and  are  once 
more  homeward  bound. 

The  teacher  who  has  traveled  in  other 
lands  returns  with  various  impressions.  He 
brings  with  him  much  new  experience,  new 
devices  in  teaching,  new  thoughts  on  educa- 
tion ;  he  values  the  grand  work  which  is  being 
done  in  his  profession  all  over  Europe,  and 
he  feels  proud  of  the  universal  respect  with 
which  the  humble  calling  of  the  teacher  is 
looked  upon  by  the  older  nations  of  the  earth. 
But  he  also  appreciates  more  keenly  than  ever 
the  noble  system  of  public  schools  in  his  own 
land  so  simple,  so  effective  and  so  liberal  in 
its  grand  design. 


Visit  to  German  Schools  171 

The  common  schools  furnish  one  system  for 
all,  for  the  rich  and  poor,  good  enough  for  the 
one,  cheap  enough  for  the  other,  the  gifts  of 
knowledge  descending  into  palace  and  hut  like 
the  generous  rays  of  the  sun.  There  is  no  di- 
vision into  castes,  social  rank  and  classes  at  the 
very  beginning  of  a  child's  school  career. 

The  teacher  who  returns  from  an  educa- 
tional tour  through  Europe  feels  new  courage 
in  the  consciousness  that  he  belongs  to  a  great 
army  of  workers  who  labor  for  a  nobler 
humanity  in  the  child-soul.  All  over  the 
world  the  grand  army  of  teachers  in  the  midst 
of  humble  conditions,  sometimes  in  poverty 
and  want,  shape  with  unflagging  zeal  the 
future  of  mankind. 

The  honor  and  dignity  of  our  work  becomes 
more  real  when  we  see  the  same  spirit  of 
devotion  and  self-sacrifice  manifested  every- 
where in  the  world,  and  the  returning  teacher 
again  records  his  vow  to  devote  his  best  effort 
to  the  hero  and  savior  of  the  future,  the  child 
of  the  present  day.  He  realizes  lovingly  the 
beautiful  words  of  the  ancient  Talmud  of  the 
Jews :  "The  world  is  only  saved  by  the  breath 
of  little  children." 


READING  IN  THE  HIGHER  GRADES 

IiN"  no  study  has  there  been  a  greater  im- 
provement than  in  reading.  The  character 
of  the  readers  in  use  at  present  in  the  leading 
schools  everywhere  in  the  United  States  places 
in  the  child's  hands  most  excellent  examples 
of  classic  English  literature.  The  educa- 
tional progress  made  in  this  study  consists  not 
merely  in  the  increased  ability  of  the  average 
child  to  read  fluently  and  correctly;  children 
have  learned  to  like  reading,  and  they  read  of 
their  own  accord. 

Culture  and  refinement  always  result  from 
the  faithful  study  of  the  masterpieces  of  liter- 
ature. In  many  cities  boards  of  education 
have  supplied  the  schools  with  sets  of  books 
of  the  highest  literary  character  for  supple- 
mentary reading,  and  the  growth  of  the  chil- 
dren under  the  influence  of  these  literary  helps 
has  been  marked.  It  has  had  a  beneficial 
effect  not  only  on  the  language  studies,  but, 
through  the  general  influence  on  the  mental 
growth  of  the  child,  has  benefited  other  studies 
as  well. 

X7a 


Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades      173 

Much  is  being  done  by  teachers  everjrwhere 
to  encourage  the  use  of  the  public  library,  and, 
in  turn,  the  public  library  boards  supply  lib- 
erally the  best  books  for  juvenile  reading. 

When  we  speak  of  reading  in  the  schools, 
we  are  apt  to  think  rather  of  fluency,  correct- 
ness and  the  like,  than  of  the  training  the  child 
receives  through  thoughtful  study  of  the  read- 
ing lesson. 

The  great  educational  and  practical  impor- 
tance of  reading  is,  that  it  introduces  the  child 
to  the  world  at  large,  both  in  a  physical  and  a 
spiritual  sense.  It  opens  to  him  a  wider  ho- 
rizon, and  gives  him  nobler  aspirations  and 
purer  sympathies ;  takes  the  child  or  man,  for 
the  time,  from  the  close  limitations  of  his 
accustomed  life,  from  the  narrow  circle  of  his 
few  acquaintances,  and  puts  him  in  the  midst 
of  new  and  varied  scenes  of  nature  and  history. 
The  walls  of  the  room  fall  away,  and  the 
world  opens;  there  is  no  aspect  of  nature,  no 
relation  of  life,  no  trait  of  the  human  soul,  of 
which  the  thoughtful  reader  remains  ignorant. 

Education  must  prepare  for  the  serious  pur- 
poses of  life.  One  of  its  great  tasks  is  the 
introduction  of  the  child  at  an  early  age  to 
the  larger  life  of  the  world.  Externally,  the 
process  of  making  the  child   a  member  of 


174        'The  Century  and  the  School 

society  is  begun  when  he  enters  the  kin- 
dergarten and  meets  other  children  whose 
rights  he  learns  to  respect.  Through  his  in- 
tercourse with  them,  he  learns  gradually  to 
curb  his  arbitrary  will,  to  respect  the  rights 
of  others,  and  to  live  and  work  with  his  equals. 
But  education  must  introduce  the  child  into 
human  society  in  a  broader  sense;  it  must  not 
only  fit  him  to  become,  through  trained  char- 
acter and  intelligence,  a  valuable  member  of 
society,  it  must  also  give  him  a  glimpse  at  the 
ways  of  the  world  beyond  the  limits  of  his 
own  narrow  life  experience. 

The  child  must  be  introduced  into  the  cur- 
rent of  the  universal  life  as  it  pulsates  in  the 
social  life  of  his  age,  and  in  the  institutions 
and  history  of  his  nation.  His  narrow,  per- 
sonal and  direct  experience  must  be  supple- 
mented and  cleared  by  the  wider  and  indi- 
rectly transmitted  experience  of  the  world. 
There  is  no  way  in  which  this  civilizing 
process  can  be  brought  about  as  naturally, 
efficiently,  and  forcibly  as  through  reading. 
By  means  of  well-selected  and  properly  con- 
ducted reading  lessons,  the  thoughts  of  others, 
their  lives,  the  thoughts  of  past  times,  an 
infinite  variety  of  social  conditions  and  rela- 
tions, the  character  and  motives  of  other  peo- 


Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades      175 

pie,  the  beauty  and  weakness  of  human  action, 
are  revealed  to  the  child  and  widen  his  per- 
sonal experience.  The  larger  world  beyond 
his  family  and  school  dawns  upon  him,  when 
he  has  been  taught  to  read  intelligently. 
Reading  means  the  humanizing  of  the  soul, 
because  it  makes  it  participate  in  the  pulsation 
of  the  social  and  spiritual  life  of  the  race. 
Reading  makes  the  mind  omnipresent  in  time 
and  space. 

All  modern  school  readers  are  replete  with 
lessons  that  acquaint  the  child  with  the  noblest 
flower  and  fruit  of  the  life  of  his  own  nation. 
Some  of  the  grandest  aspects  of  American  life 
are  depicted  in  them.  When  in  the  story  of 
Daniel  Boone  there  is  told  how  those  seven- 
teen sturdy  yeomen  and  farmers  met  in  the 
new  lands  of  Kentucky  to  constitute  a  legal 
body,  agreeing  that  the  Sabbath  must  be 
observed,  that  the  laws  must  be  respected,  that 
there  shall  be  civic  order  in  their  colony,  and 
when  they  morally  bound  themselves  to  stand 
by  those  laws,  the  story  is  not  only  choice  liter- 
ature through  its  noble  language,  but  the 
facts  presented  give  to  the  young  mind  a 
glimpse  of  the  noble  and  unique  features  of 
the  character  of  the  people  to  which  he  be- 
longs.   Through  well-selected  reading  lessons 


176        The  Century  and  the  School 

the  child  thus  becomes  acquainted  with  the 
history  of  his  own  land,  and  is  impressed  with 
the  great  events  and  thoughts  of  its  social  and 
political  life,  as  reflected  in  literature. 

Good  reading  humanizes  the  child;  we 
might  have  used  the  equivalent  expression 
that  it  civilizes  him.  Civilization,  as  a  per- 
sonal quality,  means  fitness  for  life  as  an  intel- 
ligent member  of  society  and  state.  Much 
more  than  this  is  demanded  as  a  result  of  suc- 
cessful education.  Man  must  not  be  merely 
an  intelligent,  but  also,  and  still  more  em- 
phatically, a  moral  being.  With  the  training 
for  civilized  intelligence  and  refinement,  moral 
culture  must  go  hand  in  hand.  An  ethical 
world  must  be  reared  in  the  child's  soul  over 
which  spreads  a  moral  firmament  illumined 
by  the  glowing  stars  of  human  virtues.  There 
is  no  means  of  ethical  training  more  efficient 
than  well-conducted  lessons  in  reading.  They 
create  in  the  child's  soul  ideals,  and  fill  him 
with  noble  aspirations.  His  moral  judgment 
turns  against  whatever  in  the  story  appears 
low  and  selfish.  All  good  literature  glorifies 
duty  and  goodness,  and  reading  fills  the  young 
mind  with  ennobling  ideals.  The  fact  that 
reading  may  lead  to  the  building  up  of  a  new 
soul,  and  to  the  refinement  of  the  native  con- 


Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades      177 

science,  the  fact  that  it  exercises  moral  judg- 
ment as  to  the  relations  of  life,  of  which  the 
child  would  remain  ignorant,  without  instruc- 
tion in  reading  in  the  higher  grades,  is  one 
more  reason  why  the  thoughtful  educator 
assigns  to  reading  the  first  place  in  the  cur- 
riculum of  the  school. 

Reading  is  the  magic  mantle  of  which  the 
poet  speaks,  which  carries  us  on  the  wings  of 
thought  to  wherever  we  desire  to  go,  that 
"wafts  him  o'er  the  world  at  pleasure." 
Strange  and  distant  lands  become  near  and 
familiar.  Times  long  past  become  real  and 
present  to  the  reader's  mind.  From  the  ends 
of  time,  from  past  centuries  or  decades,  noble 
voices  hold  converse  with  him.  He  listens  to 
Plato  or  Aristotle,  Addison  or  Victor  Hugo, 
Washington  or  Jefferson,  and  he  becomes 
their  confidant  and  companion.  Noble  spirits 
come  and  go  at  his  wish.  The  wise  and  good 
of  mankind  advise  and  befriend  him.  They 
help  to  mold  his  character  and  to  shape  his 
life. 

A  college  president  has  recently  been  quoted 
as  saying,  "If  I  want  to  engage  a  teacher,  I 
want  a  man,  in  the  first  place,  and  in  the  sec- 
ond place  I  want  a  man  who  can  teach."  In 
a  similar  way,  the  classic  authors  have  been  in 

12 


178     '   The  Century  and  the  School 

most  cases  both  strong  men  and  great  writers. 
The  great  masterpieces  of  literature  mirror 
the  manhood  and  personality  of  the  authors 
who,  in  their  spiritual  lives,  stand  above 
the  rest  of  humanity,  and  whose  genius  has 
obtained  glimpses  of  divine  truths  which  they, 
like  the  prophets  and  seers  of  old,  proclaim 
and  reveal  to  the  world  that  reads  their  books. 

Through  reading  the  child  enters  into  the 
companionship  of  the  noblest  minds,  because 
the  authors  whose  writings  we  are  likely  to 
select  for  him  have  the  characteristics  of 
strong  manhood  and  womanhood.  In  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  literature,  the  child  not 
only  comes  into  contact  with  the  grand  works 
of  literary  art,  but  he  is  brought  into  touch 
with  the  greatest  personalities  which  human 
history  has  produced. 

Reading  is  important  not  merely  for  utili- 
tarian reasons.  It  is  necessary  for  the  pur- 
suits of  life,  and  that  is  a  primary,  practical 
and  material  reason  for  placing  it  first  among 
the  school  studies.  But  there  is  a  higher  edu- 
cational and  spiritual  reason  for  its  position  in 
the  school  curriculum,  based  on  the  inestima- 
ble value  of  the  contents  of  literature  for  the 
growing  soul  and  for  the  human  life  that  is 
to  be  shaped  through  education. 


Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades      179 

These  two  points  of  view  from  which  in- 
struction in  reading  may  be  considered  have  a 
direct  and  practical  bearing  on  the  work  of 
the  school.  Instruction  in  reading  must  im- 
part to  the  child,  in  the  first  place,  the  full 
mastery  of  the  mechanism  of  reading.  He 
must,  in  the  course  of  his  school  career,  be- 
come able  to  read  fluently  and  correctly  any 
ordinary  printed  matter  placed  before  him. 
No  other  acquisition  can  possibly  be  an  excuse 
for  deficiency  in  this  particular.  On  the  other 
hand,  instruction  in  reading  will  not  have  that 
educational  influence  which  constitutes  its 
highest  value,  unless  the  child  is  brought  into 
touch — direct,  living,  interested  touch — in 
sentiment  and  thought,  with  the  master-mind 
that  stands  back  of  the  printed  page. 

The  idea  that  reading  is  the  child's  means 
of  entering  into  sympathetic  companionship 
with  the  great  men  of  the  race  and  sharing 
their  thoughts  and  sentiments,  leads  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  teacher,  in  using  the  read- 
ing books  with  his  classes,  must  single  out  for 
special  attention  those  selections  in  which 
there  is  a  noble  thought  presented,  or  in  which 
human  life  is  depicted  in  its  best  aspects. 

Methods  of  teaching  reading  must  be  so 
adjusted  that  the  ennobling  influence  of  liter- 


i8o        The  Century  and  the  School 

ature  becomes  a  substantial  and  ever-present 
element  of  the  work  of  the  school.  That  this 
can  be  done  is  apparent  from  the  fact  that  it 
is  being  done  in  the  best  schools  all  over  the 
country.  Every  teacher  should  know  how  to 
make  this  theory  an  actual  condition  in  her 
schoolroom.  In  teaching,  for  instance,  the 
reading  of  the  selection  from  Robert  C.  Win- 
throp's  "The  Flag  of  Our  Country,"  it  is  the 
teacher's  task,  in  the  first  place,  to  secure  the 
ready,  correct  and  expressive  reading  of  the 
language  of  the  poem,  the  explanation  of  dif- 
ficult passages,  the  pronunciation  and  mean- 
ing of  unusual  words.  But  if  instruction  stops 
with  this,  there  is  an  opportunity  wasted  and 
lost.  The  teacher  fails  to  accomplish  the 
highest  task  unless  she  can  lead  the  child  fully 
to  realize  and  share  the  author's  sentiment, 
and  feel  with  patriotic  emotion  the  force  of 
the  author's  words  on  the  flag  of  his  country: 
"Behold  it!  Listen  to  it!  Every  star  has  a 
tongue;  every  stripe  is  articulate."  "There  is 
no  speech  nor  language  where  their  voice  is 
not  heard." 

Bacon  said:  "Reading  makes  a  full  man, 
conference  a  ready  man,  and  writing  an  exact 
man."  Reading,  speaking  and  writing  are  the 
three  main  lines  of  all  language  study.     On 


Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades      i8i 

which  of  them  should  we  lay  stress  in  training 
the  child?  Should  he  be  full  of  information; 
should  he  be  able  to  use  his  knowledge  readily, 
and  with  fair  exactness?  The  answer,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  is  that  the  child  needs  all 
three — a  fair  degree  of  information,  and  read- 
iness and  clearness  in  its  use.  Each  of  them  is 
necessary,  and  methods  of  instruction  in  read- 
ing must  embody  the  acquisition  of  knowl- 
edge and  its  use  in  speech  and  writing.  It 
follows  that  all  school  reading,  in  order  to  fill 
the  mind  with  information,  must  be  not  merely 
a  speaking  of  the  words,  but,  simultaneously 
and  pre-eminently,  a  grasping  of  the  thought. 
This  is  true  of  the  very  first  step  in  primary 
reading,  and  equally  true  of  the  classic  selec- 
tions in  the  higher  grades.  The  teacher 
should  not  be  satisfied  with  having  the  chil- 
dren merely  pronounce  the  words;  she  must 
see  that  they  grasp  the  idea  underlying  each 
selection. 

The  possession  of  the  mechanical  art  of 
reading  is,  by  common  consent,  made  the 
dividing  line  which  separates  the  educated 
man  from  the  illiterate.  Not  his  ability  to 
cipher,  nor  his  knowledge  of  the  rudiments 
of  history  or  geography,  is  made  the  test,  but 
his  ability  to  read  print  and  write  his  name. 


1 82        The  Century  and  the  School 

All  the  world  over,  the  statistician's  figures  of 
illiteracy  are  based  on  the  test  of  mechanical 
reading.  Reading  is  considered  the  measure 
and  test  of  general  education. 

Life's  requirement,  that  the  schools  should 
train  children  to  be  able  to  read  common 
words  at  sight,  is  merely  a  minimum  demand; 
but  it  is  at  the  same  time  a  most  essential 
requirement.  The  school  may  do,  and  ought 
to  do,  more  for  the  child  in  the  study  of  read- 
ing than  to  make  him  a  ready  reader;  it  cannot 
afford  to  do  less.  No  matter  what  other  tasks 
and  studies  the  school  charges  itself  with,  this 
remains  the  most  elementary  and  the  most 
indispensable.  The  school  that  does  not  train 
ready  readers  is  a  weak  school,  no  matter  what 
else  may  be  accomplished  successfully  in  other 
studies.  Reading  must  rank  first  in  every 
school  curriculum,  both  from  a  practical  and 
from  an  educational  point  of  view.  It  is  the 
earliest  task  that  school  education  must  under- 
take, and  is  therefore  a  test  of  the  efficiency 
of  primary  instruction.  On  the  acquisition  of 
the  mechanical  art  of  reading  school  instruc- 
tion must  lay  stress  in  every  grade,  and  be 
indefatigable  in  the  watchful  practice  of  ready 
reading.  In  this  the  demands  of  life  and  that 
of  educational  science  coalesce ;  reading  forms 


Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades      183 

the  key  to  every  other  study  of  the  school. 
Educational  considerations  demand  more 
from  this  study  than  the  mere  mastery  of  the 
mechanism  of  pronouncing  words  at  sight. 
The  derivation  of  the  Latin  word  or  the 
French  word  for  reading,  suggests  the  idea  of 
gathering  together  something.  It  seems  to 
mean  the  putting  together  of  letters  to  form  a 
word.  The  Anglo-Saxon  word  from  which 
we  derive  our  own  does  not  mean  to  gather 
signs  together  through  the  eye,  but  means  to 
counsel,  to  suggest,  to  explain.  Thus,  the 
English  word  "to  read"  points  in  itself  to 
sornething  more  than  the  mere  ability  to  ex- 
press, in  speech,  the  written  character,  and 
suggests  another,  far  deeper,  reason  why  read- 
ing should  be  placed  first  in  a  course  of 
instruction.  It  does  not  reject  the  merely 
formal  idea  connected  with  it,  namely,  the 
mechanical  ability  to  pronounce  readily  the 
word  for  which  certain  signs  stand,  but  it 
means  much  more.  It  means  that  the  reader 
should  grasp  the  thought  held  in  the  printed 
word.  It  rises  above  the  minimum  require- 
ments of  business  life,  and  above  merely 
mechanical  schoolroom  practices,  to  a  higher 
view  of  the  purposes  of  reading.  The  me- 
chanical art  of  reading,  absolutely  essential  as 


184        The  Century  and  the  School 

it  is,  becomes  an  indispensable  but  subor- 
dinate means  to  an  end  that  ranks  infinitely- 
higher.  It  places  the  importance  of  reading 
in  the  content  and  thought  rather  than  in  the 
form  and  the  words. 

While  each  of  the  various  purposes  which 
reading  must  subserve  imposes  certain  specific 
demands  on  the  practical  methods  of  teaching 
it,  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  suppose  that  all 
these  aims  are  equivalent  and  that  they  can 
receive  equal  attention.  All  the  indirect  and 
higher  advantages  that  should  come  from 
well-directed  reading  lessons  are  in  turn 
dependent  on  the  mastery  of  the  mechanical 
art.  To  it  every  single  lesson  in  reading  in 
any  grade  must  contribute.  Material  as  well 
as  spiritual  considerations  demand  that  the 
teacher  should  in  the  first  place  insist  upon 
the  fluent,  correct  and  expressive  reading  of 
the  printed  characters;  all  the  other  purposes 
are  secured  through  this  skill.  No  higher 
demand  can  possibly  take  the  place  of  this 
elementary  requirement.  Nothing  can  be 
substituted  for  the  attainment  of  fluency 
and  mechanical  correctness.  Towards  it  the 
attention  and  persistent  efforts  of  the  teacher 
in  every  grade  must  constantly  be  directed. 
The  other  aims  are  of  vital  importance  in  the 


Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades      185 

process  of  education,  but  they  may  possibly  be 
accomplished,  at  least  in  a  measure,  by  the 
youth's  own  effort.  If  he  is  mechanically  a 
skilful  reader,  his  mind  may  penetrate  the 
thoughts  and  sentiments  of  the  selection  with- 
out the  teacher's  help.  Some  educators,  most 
thoughtful  otherwise  in  the  study  of  peda- 
gogical science,  ignore  the  very  important  fact 
that  the  child  is  not  only  the  passive  recipient, 
but  is,  in  his  own  way,  an  active  gatherer  of 
knowledge.  He  is  not  only  being  educated, 
but  he  is  constantly  educating  himself.  He 
is  not  merely  a  passive  entity,  and  the  educa- 
tional product  of  teachers  and  schools,  but  he 
has  independent,  spontaneous  growth.  He 
learns  much  that  he  has  never  been  taught,  he 
understands  much  that  the  teacher  has  never 
explained.  The  child  need  not  be  taken  care 
of  in  every  respect,  for  in  many  ways  he  takes 
quite  good  care  of  himself.  There  are  many 
things  he  is  likely  to  learn  and  acquire  with- 
out anybody's  help.  Let  no  educator  for  a 
moment  suppose  that  what  he  does  not  do  for 
the  child  is  not  done  at  all.  One  of  the  petty 
mistakes  of  modern  methods  of  instruction  is 
the  notion  that  the  child  will  grasp  nothing 
unless  it  is  whittled  down  to  the  lowest  mental 
dimensions.     We  weary  him  with  artificially 


'i86        The  Century  and  the  School 

attenuated  information,  and  befog  his  intel- 
ligence with  superfluous  explanations. 

In  reading,  the  teacher's  constant  and 
watchful  help  is  necessary  to  lead  the  child  to 
master  the  mechanical  art  and  at  the  same 
time  to  become  fully  conscious  of  the  ideas 
which  they  express.  But  the  stress  of  school- 
room practice  must  always  be  laid  on  the 
former.  It  would  be  a  great  mistake  not  to 
consider  constantly  the  higher  purposes  which 
reading  serves ;  it  would  be  a  greater  mistake 
to  slight  the  acquisition  of  the  mechanical  art, 
by  over  anxiety  that  the  child  should  fully 
master  the  contents.  The  latter  the  child 
may  possibly  do  without  the  aid  of  the  teacher, 
but  he  will  never  see  the  full  meaning  of  the 
words  for  himself,  and  use  reading  as  a  guide 
to  knowledge,  and  culture,  and  life,  unless 
instruction  and  drill  remove  the  mechanical 
difficulties  of  the  art  of  reading  at  an  early 
day.  It  is  only  after  the  recognition  of  the 
printed  word  has  become  an  automatic  process 
that  undivided  attention  can  be  given  by  the 
child  to  the  ideal  world  that  lives  in  the  books. 
Hence  the  very  conviction  that  the  great  edu- 
cational value  of  reading  does  not  lie  in  the 
mechanical  art,  but  in  the  culture  to  be  derived 
from  the  contents,  is  in  itself  the  prime  reason 


Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades       187 

for  the  most  thorough  and  persistent  drill  in 
fluent  and  correct  reading.  The  child  must 
master  the  form  before  he  can  reach  the 
content. 

In  the  programs  of  some  modern  elementary 
schools  this  study  has  changed  its  name.  The 
term  "reading"  has  been  abandoned,  and  the 
word  "literature"  substituted.  The  reason 
given  for  the  change  is  that  reading  is  merely 
a  formal  art,  and  that  the  name  of  the  study 
should  indicate  its  substance  rather  than  its 
form.  Conceding  the  self-evident  truth  of 
the  proposition  that  reading  should  lead  to 
something  beyond  the  mastery  of  the  mere 
form  of  the  words,  the  substitution  of  the  new 
term  does  not  seem  warranted.  The  English 
word  "reading"  means  the  mastery  of  both  the 
form  and  content.  There  is  good  reason  for 
preferring  the  term  "reading"  to  the  modern 
substitute,  "literature,"  as  a  name  for  the 
common  school  study.  Reading  is  the  name 
for  a  power;  literature  the  name  for  a  certain 
body  of  knowledge.  The  power  question  at 
the'end  of  a  common  school  education  is  not: 
"Does  the  child  know  literature?"  but  rather, 
"Can  he  read?"  The  new  name  seems  to 
place  the  stress  on  an  important  but  not  the 
most  important  aim — on  knowledge   rather 


1 88        The  Century  and  the  School 

than  on  power.  The  word  reading,  rightly- 
understood,  means  both  the  acquisition  of  the 
art,  and  the  possession  of  a  knowledge  of  some 
literary  works. 

In  the  acquisition  of  his  mother  tongue,  or 
of  any  language,  the  mind  of  the  learner  has 
a  twofold  task.  When  the  infant  listens  to 
the  speech  of  others,  when  the  boy  listens  to 
the  words  of  the  teacher,  or  reads  his  lessons, 
his  mind  is  absorbing  language  and  informa- 
tion. It  is  receptive,  and  in  a  measure  pas- 
sive. When  you  read  a  book  there  is  no 
apparent  activity;  you  allow  the  thought  of 
the  author  to  flow  unresisted  into  your  soul, 
you  permit  his  images  to  act  on  the  stage  of 
your  own  mind.  Your  thoughts  are  made  the 
instrument  on  which  the  hand  of  another 
plays.  The  chords  of  your  soul  vibrate  in 
response  to  his  touch.  The  current  of  your 
thoughts  is  directed  by  the  author  who  lived 
and  wrote  perhaps  three  centuries  ago.  He 
plays  on  the  instrument  of  your  mind,  and 
makes  you  see  the  visions  of  his  own.  Your 
mind  is  under  another's  control.  In  listening, 
or  reading,  the  mind  is  in  a  receptive  attitude. 
It  is  determined  by  external  agencies. 

There  is  another  aspect  of  language,  in 
which  the  mental  attitude  is  no  longer  recep- 


Reading  in  the  Higher  Grades       189 

tive  and  determined  externally,  but  active, 
creative  and  self-determined.  When  you 
answer  a  question,  when  you  speak  to  a  friend, 
the  words  and  thoughts  are  the  product  and 
spontaneous  expression  of  your  own  soul.  The 
mind  is  not  in  a  receptive  but  in  a  creative, 
active  and  self-determining  attitude.  There 
is  in  all  language  this  double  element  of 
determination  and  self-determination,  or,  in 
other  words,  of  receptivity  and  self-active 
spontaneity.  Hearing  and  reading  belong  to 
the  phase  of  receptivity;  speaking  and  writing 
to  the  phase  of  spontaneity.  In  all  language 
work  which  the  common  school  is  doing,  the 
two  phases,  that  of  receptivity  and  that  of 
spontaneous  activity  on  the  part  of  the  chil- 
dren, should  be  represented. 

There  is  a  balancing  alternation  between 
the  receptive  and  spontaneous  activities  in  the 
physical  process  of  life.  We  take  in  food  pre- 
pared by  nature,  and  then  the  physical  process 
self-actively  converts  this  food  into  vital  power. 
Similarly,  in  the  mental  work  which  educa- 
tion imposes  on  the  child,  the  processes  of 
receptivity  and  spontaneity  should  be  made  to 
alternate.  Whatever  the  child  gains  in  knowl- 
edge should  be  in  some  way  or  other  converted 
into  power.     Power  in  connection  with  Ian- 


190        The  Century  and  the  School 

guage  would  be  power  to  express  things  orally 
or  in  writing.  This  interaction  of  the  recep- 
tive and  self-active  processes  of  the  mind 
should  be  brought  into  play  in  all  instruction 
in  language,  or  reading,  as  well  as  in  all  other 
subjects.  Instruction  in  reading  that  would 
aim  exclusively  at  the  absorption  of  the  in- 
formation of  the  book,  would  not  make  full 
use  of  the  opportunities  which  instruction  in 
reading  offers  for  the  development  of  faculty. 
It  would  be  one-sided  training,  receptive,  but 
not  cultivating  spontaneous  activity.  Each 
lesson  in  reading  requires  for  its  sequel  some 
exercise  in  which  the  words  of  the  lesson  are 
used  by  the  child  and  in  which  he  can  express 
himself  in  regard  to  what  he  has  read. 


FOLKLORE  AND  FAIRY  TALES 

Desdemona  would  devour  with  greedy  ear 
Othello's  marvelous  story  of  the  Anthro- 
pophagi, or  cannibals,  or  the  men  whose 
heads  grow  beneath  their  shoulders.  The  only 
witchcraft  which  the  Moor  used  to  woo  and 
win  her,  was  the  stirring  story  of  youth  and 
adventure,  danger  and  rescue.  It  was  by  the 
stories  of  genii  and  fairies  that  Queen  Sche- 
herezade  tamed  the  fierce  passions  of  her  lord 
and  master,  and,  through  his  awakened  inter- 
est, she  made  him  amenable  to  gentler  and 
more  human  feelings.  All  ages  and  climes 
have  felt  the  enchantment  of  the  household 
story  and  fairy  tale.  Story-telling  attracts 
hearers  in  the  Arabian  desert  and  in  the  cof- 
fee-houses of  Bagdad.  It  gathers  cheering 
crowds  round  the  stump-speaker  from  Georgia 
to  Oregon.  Every  new  generation  is  charmed 
again  by  the  greatest  of  all  story-tellers, 
Homer.  Chaucer's  tales  are  the  fountain- 
head  and  inspiration  of  English  literature. 
Story-telling  through  novel  and  romance  is 
the  most  popular  feature  of  modern  literature. 

191 


192        The  Century  and  the  School 

Even  the  abstract  doctrines  of  socialistic  re- 
form, when  clothed  in  the  garb  of  a  story, 
gain  a  most  extensive  and  interested  audience. 

Childhood  is  ever  enchanted  by  the  legend 
and  household  tale,  and  never  tires  of  repeti- 
tion. The  intense  interest  which  the  young 
take  in  these  stories,  suggests  an  important  use 
to  which  they  may  be  applied  in  cultivating 
young  minds.  Education  should  ever  take 
cognizance  of  the  points  towards  which  the 
natural  interest  of  youth  tends,  and  use  them 
as  fulcrums  for  the  spiritual  levers  by  which 
child-nature  is  to  be  raised  to  higher  culture. 
Since  the  strong,  natural  interests  of  child- 
hood should  be  made  serviceable  to  rational 
education,  the  delight  which  children  take  in 
these  household  tales  will  justify  the  attempt 
to  utilize  them  in  the  training  of  young  minds 
and  tender  hearts. 

The  telling  of  household  stories  and  folk- 
lore tales,  such  as  Jack  the  Giant  Killer,  Tom 
Thumb,  Sleeping  Beauty,  The  Wolf  and  The 
Kids,  etc.,  is  so  universally  used  to  amuse  and 
instruct  the  young  of  all  classes  of  society, 
that  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  that  there  ever 
could  have  been  a  time  when  these  children's 
stories  were  unknown.  Yet,  old  as  they  may 
be,  their  literary  birth  at  least  is  of  compara- 


Folklore  and  Fairy  Tales  193 

lively  recent  date.  It  is  not  much  more  than 
200  years  since  they  made  their  first  appear- 
ance in  the  modern  world  of  letters  in  Per- 
rault's  Stories  of  Olden  Times.  While  this 
was  their  first  arrival  in  European  literature, 
it  is  only  within  the  last  hundred  years  that 
the  household  tale  became  the  subject  of 
earnest  study  and  general  attention  through 
Grimm's  charming  collection  of  Folklore, 
which  was  published  in  18 12. 

Although  Perrault  said  of  his  stories  that 
"they  lack  sense,  and  therefore  are  designed 
for  children  that  have  not  any  sense  as  yet," 
it  has  become  evident  since  Grimm's  time  that 
in  all  these  incongruities  and  absurdities  of 
fairy-  and  dreamland,  there  is  a  current  of 
genuine  good  sense  and  sterling  ethical  value. 
If  there  were  not  this  element  in  them,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  account  for  the  fact  that 
these  stories,  "which  lack  sense,"  have  sur- 
vived for  thousands  of  years  in  the  struggle 
for  existence,  to  which  popular  traditions,  too, 
are  subject,  and  in  which  only  the  fittest  will 
live.  While  these  stories  have  existed  in 
European  literature  but  for  a  short  time, 
their  age  has  been  traced  through  tradition 
into  the  darkening  shadows  of  prehistoric 
times.     Perrault  and  Grimm  did  not  invent 

13 


194        'The  Century  and  the  School 

they  gathered.  Some  of  the  stories  that  are 
familiar  to  everybody,  such  as  La  Fontaine's 
Story  of  Perette,  the  milkmaid, — who  is  build- 
ing up  a  fortune  in  her  thoughts  from  the  pro- 
ceeds of  the  milk  which  she  is  carrying  to 
town,  and  whose  day-dreams  end  when  she 
accidentally  spills  the  milk, — have  been  traced 
back  through  the  literatures  of  Europe  and 
Asia,  to  France,  Spain,  Italy,  Greece,  thence 
to  Persia  and  Hindoostan,  and,  perhaps,  to 
the  Aryan  ancestors  of  all  Indo-European 
races.     To  the  poet's  question: 

"Should  you  ask  me  whence  these  stories, 
Whence  these  legends  and  traditions, 
With  the  odors  of  the  forest, 
With  the  dew  and  damp  of  meadows?" 

Grimm  could  have  returned  no  other  answer 
than  that  of  the  poet  himself:  "I  repeat  them 
as  I  heard  them."  He  took  these  stories 
as  he  obtained  them  among  the  peasants  of 
Germany;  most  of  them  he  heard  from  the 
lips  of  the  wife  of  a  cowherd  near  Cassel. 
They  were  told  him  with  such  reverence  for 
the  form  which  old  tradition  had  given  them, 
that  the  scholar  did  not  feel  warranted  to 
deviate  from  it  in  giving  them  to  the  world. 
These  household  stories,  even  where  we 
cannot  trace  their  transmission  from  race  to 


Folklore  and  Fairy  Tales  195 

race,  contain  in  themselves  strong  circum- 
stantial evidence  of  great  age.  They  speak  of 
a  time  and  a  civilization  when  man's  kinship 
with  the  animal  kingdom,  and  even  with  the 
inorganic  world,  was  an  established  fact  in  his 
mind.  The  animal,  in  these  tales,  is  wise  and 
powerful.  It  serves,  protects  and  even  guides 
man;  it  has  language,  and  sagaciously  coun- 
sels him;  it  may  assume  human  shape.  The 
kinship  between  the  two  is  so  close  that  man 
and  animal  are  often  transformed  into  each 
other.  Puss  in  Boots  is  wiser  than  his  mas- 
ter and  helps  him  with  sly  cunning  to  happi- 
ness and  fortune.  Puss  is  wiser  and  stronger 
than  even  the  giant,  whom  it  avails  little,  that 
he  can  assume  any  animal  form  at  will. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  conceive  that  in  the 
remote  past  the  ancestors  of  modern  civiliza- 
tion may  have  held  views  similar  to  those 
reflected  in  these  household  stories  and  may 
have  looked  upon  the  animal  world  as  man's 
kindred,  as  a  mysterious,  wise  and  powerful 
race.  We  know  that  such  beliefs  and  views 
do  exist  among  barbarous  tribes  at  the 
present  time.  The  peculiar  superstition  of 
savage  life  that  is  known  under  the  name  of 
"Totemism,"  contains  a  kind  of  barbarous 
philosophy,   and   crude   doctrine  concerning 


196        The  Century  and  the  School 

the  origin  of  world,  of  life  and  death,  with 
a  stringent  code  of  tribal  ethics. 

"And  they  painted  on  the  grave  posts 
Of  the  graves,  yet  unforgotten, 
Each  his  own  ancestral  totem, 
Each  the  symbol  of  his  household; 
Figures  of  the  bear  and  reindeer, 
Of  the  turtle,  crane  and  beaver." 

Totemism  shows  a  view  of  the  animal  king- 
dom that  is  strangely  akin  to  the  world  of  the 
household  tale  and  the  important  part  which 
animals  play  in  it.  The  savage  looks  upon 
the  animal  of  his  tribe,  or  his  totem,  as  the  an- 
cestor and  protecting  genius  of  his  race,  and 
attributes  unlimited  power  and  wisdom  to  it. 

Many  of  the  features  of  Totemism  as  they 
can  be  observed  today  in  the  primitive  social 
organization  of  savage  tribes,  remind  us  of 
traits  found  in  legend  and  household  tale.  It 
looks  as  if  the  weird  ethics  of  Totemism  had 
left  their  traces  in  them.  When  we  read  that 
with  some  tribes  the  husband's  name  must  not 
be  spoken  by  the  wife,  we  think  of  a  corre- 
sponding feature  used  in  the  modern  version 
of  Lohengrin.  The  cannibalism  of  savagery, 
the  medicine  man's  power  to  assume  animal 
form  at  will,  is  the  content  of  more  than  one 
story.  The  belief  of  Totemism  that  objects 
have  souls  is  found  in  the  talking  bread  and 


Folklore  and  Fairy  Tales  197 

the  talking  apples  of  the  story  of  "Mother 
Holle."  The  idea  of  the  "Taboo"  is  con- 
tained in  "Bluebeard,"  "Aladdin"  and  others. 

The  prominent  position  which  many 
household  stories  assign  to  the  smallest  or 
youngest  child  finds  some  analogy  in  primi- 
tive society.  In  many  polygamic  tribes  the 
law  obtains  that  the  youngest  son  is  the  heir. 
No  feature  is  found  more  frequently  in  fairy 
tales  than  that  the  youngest  or  smallest  child 
is  represented  as  wiser  or  better  than  others, 
and  becomes  their  leader. 

Besides  the  evidences  of  prehistoric  tribal 
existence,  there  are  found  in  these  legends  the 
traces  of  awakening  spiritual  life,  of  a  time 
when  man  dimly  divined  the  existence  of  per- 
sonality behind  the  forces  of  nature,  ruling 
over  and  guiding  their  play  through  intelli- 
gence; of  a  time  when  the  phenomena  of  na- 
ture first  appealed  to  him  as  the  manifestations 
of  some  supreme,  invisible  power  which  he 
fancied  to  be  like  himself,  a  person  in  shape 
and  being,  but  grander.  Round  the  common 
phenomena  of  nature  he  wove  the  myths  of 
personality.  The  sun  which  dies  in  the  splen- 
dor of  its  power  in  the  red  dawn,  when  he 
stoops  to  the  great  water  of  the  West  becomes, 
in  the  Nibelungen-story,  Siegfried,  the  gold- 


198        The  Century  and  the  School 

enhaired,  who  is  killed  by  Hagen  while  stoop- 
ing to  drink  from  the  spring  in  the  woods. 
The  story  of  the  sun  becomes,  in  the  Welsh 
tradition,  the  myth  of  King  Arthur  dying 
in  the  fulness  of  his  strength,  in  the  West,  by 
the  great  water,  in  which  he  is  buried.  The 
story  of  the  "Sleeping  Beauty"  personifies 
autumnal  nature  that  must  sleep  through  the 
torpor  of  Winter,  until  the  kiss  of  a  beautiful 
prince,  Spring,  calls  her  back  to  life.  There 
is  also  plentiful  evidence  of  the  later  arrival 
of  Christianity.  Not  unfrequently  the  old 
background  of  superstition  remains,  but  the 
action  and  moral  of  the  story  have  become 
modern  and  Christian.  Many  other  stories 
are  unalloyed  types  of  purest  Christian 
thought. 

No  less  remarkable  than  the  age  of  these 
stories  is  their  universal  spread.  The  tales 
that  Grimm  recorded  as  he  heard  them  from 
the  mouth  of  a  German  peasant  woman,  have 
been  found  in  similar  form  in  almost  every 
part  of  the  globe,  among  the  tribes  of  Africa, 
among  the  Malay  races,  or  among  the  North- 
American  Indians.  Some  appear  in  almost 
identical  form  in  the  stories  of  the  plantation 
negroes  of  the  South,  as  told  by  Uncle  Remus. 
There  are  strange  analogies  between  "Rey- 


Folklore  and  Fairy  Tales  199 

nard  the  Fox,"  which  Goethe  has  made  mod- 
ern and  immortal  in  his  epic,  and  the  inex- 
haustible adventures  of  Bre'r  Rabbit  and 
Bre'r  Fox. 

To  account  for  the  spread  of  these  stories 
by  assuming  that  they  were  transmitted  from 
one  land  and  race  to  others,  is  quite  out  of 
the  question  when  the  distances  in  location 
and  time,  and  the  differences  in  race  and  lan- 
guage are  considered;  the  wide  diffusion  of 
the  legends  remains  a  mystery.  Their  close 
agreement  in  subject  or  plot  and  their  uni- 
versal spread,  however,  are  evidences  of  the 
fact  that  the  thought  of  the  childhood  of  races 
is  similar  in  drift  everywhere,  and  that  these 
stories  have  ever  been  the  product  as  well  as 
the  delight  of  the  child-mind. 

The  age  and  universality  of  these  stories 
are  of  interest  to  the  student  of  language  or 
of  anthropology.  They  possess  a  third  char- 
acteristic which  appeals  more  directly  to  the 
teacher  and  suggests  their  use  in  education. 
Not  a  few  of  them  contain  the  noblest  ethical 
lessons  and  teach  wise  rules  of  conduct  in  the 
simplest  and  most  child-like  form. 

When  through  frequent  repetition  an  at- 
tractive story  of  strong  moral  bearing  has  once 
been  lodged  in  the  mind  of  the  child,  a  pal- 


200        The  Century  and  the  School 

pable  ethical  truth  takes  root  with  it  and  may 
be  made  to  grow  and  blossom.  The  Her- 
bartian  system  of  education,  which  numbers 
many  adherents  among  the  thoughtful  teach- 
ers of  Germany,  has  recognized  the  ethical 
value  of  the  household  tale,  and  has  assigned 
to  it  a  central  place  in  primary  instruction 
around  which  all  other  work  is  grouped. 
They  make  the  story  of  the  medium  of  what 
they  call  "Gesinnungs-Unterricht,"  or,  of  les- 
sons for  the  ethical  adjustment  of  the  child's 
mental  attitude.  They  consider  this  the  most 
important  subject  of  early  school-training. 

How  there  can  be  in  these  stories  of  olden 
times  this  peculiar  admixture  of  an  old,  bar- 
barous element  with  grand  ethical  truth,  is 
not  difficult  to  see.  It  follows  directly  from 
their  great  age.  Long  before  they  were  re- 
ceived and  fixed  in  literature,  they  were 
handed  down  in  a  more  fleeting  form  from 
generation  to  generation  by  oral  transmission. 
Round  the  fireside  where  the  ancient  grand- 
mother with  her  busy  spinning  wheel  sat,  the 
children  gathered  to  listen  with  breathless 
interest  to  the  tale  of  the  Wolf  and  the  seven 
little  Kids,  of  the  Golden  Goose,  of  Little 
Snow-White  or  Little  Red  Riding  Hood. 
The  spell  of  romance  which  charmed  Desde- 


Folklore  and  Fairy  Tales  201 

mona  and  the  enchantment  of  Queen  Schehe- 
rezade  have  been  felt  by  each  new  generation 
of  children.  Through  the  influence  of  the 
story  their  thoughts  were  widened  and  their 
feelings  refined.  There  were  neither  books 
nor  schools  in  those  early  times.  The  art  of 
reading  was  unknown  among  the  people,  and 
the  traditional  folklore  stories  formed  a 
spiritual  interest  that  had  no  rival  in  the 
routine  of  their  lives  or  in  the  thoughts  of 
young  and  old.  Their  minds  dwelt  on  them 
with  affection.  They  were  the  only  intellec- 
tual feast  to  which  childhood  was  invited,  and 
when  through  repetition  and  interest  they  had 
become  fixed  in  the  soul  of  the  new  genera- 
tion, this  knowledge  was  never  lost,  and  at  a 
later  time  the  hearers  related  these  wonderful 
tales  in  turn  to  their  own  children. 

These  stories  were  thus  preserved  by  be- 
coming assimilated  in  the  minds  of  men  that 
heard  and  told  them.  Minds,  however, 
change  as  time  changes,  and  with  these  minds 
the  stories  themselves  must  have  suffered 
mutation  and  change.  As  man  adjusted  him- 
self unconsciously  to  the  never  ceasing  march 
of  civilization  which  has  by  easy  steps  of  slow 
evolution  transformed  savagery  into  culture, 
these  stories  that  dwelt  for  ages  in  the  minds 


202        [The  Century  and  the  School 

of  men  must  have  participated  in  the  change. 
The  barbarous  element  in  them  receded,  and 
the  ethical  truth  became  stronger,  as  man  was 
being  transformed  from  a  savage  into  an 
ethical  being. 

The  predominance  of  the  ethical  element 
in  these  stories  may  also  be  accounted  for  by 
the  character  of  the  audience  which  they  al- 
ways commanded.  In  those  long  epochs  of 
oral  transmission  they  were  told  to  listening 
youth  by  wise  old  age  whose  task  and  aim  it 
naturally  was  to  guide  and  rule  the  young. 
In  epochs  when  scholastic  training  had  no 
existence,  all  parental  effort  in  the  training 
of  the  young  naturally  tended  in  the  direction 
of  good  behavior  and  rectitude  of  action,  and 
it  was  natural  that  much  educational  advice 
and  counsel  should  be  skilfully  and  pleasantly 
imparted  by  the  older  people  in  the  guise  of 
cherished  story  or  fairy  tale.  The  household 
story  was  the  earliest  ethical  study  in  the  edu- 
cational curriculum  of  the  race;  it  was  used 
for  ages  before  schools  existed,  and  as  a  means 
of  moral  training  it  deserves  again  a  promi- 
nent place  in  the  Kindergarten  and  Primary 
School. 

The  features  of  primitive  life  which  folk 
lore  embodies  have  suffered  attrition  through 


Folklore  and  Fairy  Tales  203 

constant  contact  with  the  vigorous  life  of  a 
nobler  civilization  and  are  so  much  obliter- 
ated that  their  presence  is  discerned  by  the 
scholar  rather  than  the  reader.  In  a  corre- 
sponding degree  the  lessons  of  modern  life,  the 
rules  of  conduct,  the  nobleness  of  moral  ac- 
tion have  become  more  prominent. 

We  have  considered  the  age  and  origin 
of  the  household  story,  in  order  to  suggest 
the  necessity  of  a  careful  selection  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  Kindergarten  and  to  show  the 
principle  which  should  guide  the  choice, 
namely,  the  ethical  value  and  the  fitness  of  ap- 
plication to  child-conduct.  Fortunately,  the 
number  of  thoroughly  pure  and  noble  stories, 
that  are  at  the  same  time  of  deepest  interest 
to  child-nature  is  almost  unlimited. 

We  have  so  far  treated  these  stories  as  if 
all  of  them  were  old  and  traditional.  Yet 
this  is  by  no  means  the  case.  Modern  litera- 
ture, following  the  lead  of  ancient  tradition, 
has  invented  a  countless  host  of  such  tales  for 
children,  and  the  hand  of  masters,  like  Ander- 
sen, has  produced  many  little  gems  of  child- 
lore  which  need  not  shun  comparison  with  the 
best  traditional  heirlooms. 

No  better  means  to  convey  early  ethical 
instruction  can  be  found.    With  a  child  of 


204       The  Century  and  the  School 

tender  age  the  same  moral  which  when  put 
into  the  abstract  form  of  a  maxim  or  com- 
mand will  tire  or  repel,  will  interest  and  be 
assimilated  when  clothed  in  the  garb  of  a 
simple  and  attractive  tale.  Story-telling  may 
be  so  arranged  and  conducted  as  to  become  a 
power  in  the  child's  education. 

There  is  no  end  to  the  special  ethical 
doctrines  which  household  stories  teach :  help- 
fulness to  others,  self-sacrifice,  devotion  and 
gratitude  to  parents,  modesty,  courage  in  dan- 
ger, respect  for  old  age,  sympathy  for  suffer- 
ing, reverence,  pity,  humility  and  fortitude 
and  countless  similar  traits  are  illustrated  and 
inculcated  by  them.  In  the  story  of  Tom 
Thumb,  or  Peppercorn,  the  seemingly  small 
assumes  importance.  To  counteract  the 
child's  destructive  propensities  and  careless- 
ness with  things,  man's  dependence  on  the 
most  insignificant  objects  is  illustrated.  To 
curb  the  tyranny  of  the  older  and  stronger 
child,  many  household  tales  extol  the  wis- 
dom and  love  of  the  weakest  and  youngest 
brother  or  sister  and  recommend  them  to  the 
respect  and  consideration  of  the  older.  Kind- 
ness to  animals  is  taught,  since  the  lower  world 
is  constantly  represented  as  sharing  the  life  of 
the  human  race  in  sentiment  and  fate.     Goe- 


Folklore  and  Fairy  Tales  205 

the's  Faust  in  his  prayer  thanks  the  Divine 
Spirit  for  his  kindly  gifts  and  for  none  more 
than  that  he  taught  him  to  know  his  kinship 
to  all  living  creatures : 

"Thou  gav'st  me  nature  for  my  kingdom  grand,  .  .  , 
The  ranks  of  living  creatures  thou  dost  lead 
Before  me,  teaching  me  to  know  my  brother, 
In  air  and  water,  and  the  silent  wood." 

The  same  thought  was  beautifully  ex- 
pressed by  Francis  of  Assisi  in  his  sermon  in 
the  fields  when  he  spoke  of  "The  Birds,  my 
brothers."  Sympathy  with  animals  is  a  step 
in  the  direction  of  the  love  which  the  child 
owes  to  man,  and  the  household  tale  teaches 
these  lessons  constantly.  Hospitality  and 
kindness  to  the  stranger  recommend  them- 
selves to  the  child  when  he  hears  of  the  fairy 
that  visits  the  house  of  the  rich  and  poor  in 
humblest  guise,  and  rewards  courtesy  and 
benevolence.  He  sees  laziness,  disobedience, 
rudeness,  cruelty  and  churlishness  punished. 
Fiction  often  is  a  good  guide  to  reality;  it 
leads  the  child  to  form  a  kind  of  image  of  the 
life  beyond  the  threshold  of  nursery  and  kin- 
dergarten, and  he  learns  to  realize  that  it  will 
demand  respect  for  others,  industry  and  truth, 
and  that  happiness  and  success  will  be  the 
reward  of  these  virtues. 


2o6       The  Century  and  the  School 

Courage  and  hopefulness  are  taught;  at 
times  the  story  takes  a  semi-humorous  form,  as 
in  the  tale  of  "The  Youth  who  went  to  learn 
Fear,"  but  in  most  instances  the  direct  moral 
is,  that  with  a  just  cause  even  the  young  and 
the  weak  need  not  fear  the  giants  of  the  world. 

In  addition  to  these  general  ethical  truths 
many  other  lessons  of  child  conduct  are  incul- 
cated, especially  in  the  animal  stories.  None 
of  these  lessons  occurs  more  frequently  than 
the  doctrine  that  the  sum  and  substance  of  the 
child's  code  of  morals  is  found  in  the  duty  of 
obedience  to  his  parent.  That  the  parent 
wills  nothing  but  what  is  good,  that  he  is 
wiser  than  the  child,  and  that  disobedience  is 
a  peril,  forms  the  substance  of  tales  like  the 
Wolf  and  Seven  Kids. 

Since  the  ethical  content  of  these  stories  is 
altogether  inexhaustible,  there  is  hardly  any 
limit  to  their  usefulness  in  moral  instruction. 
The  interest  with  which  the  child  listens  to 
their  enjoyable  content  is  transferred  uncon- 
sciously to  the  higher  truth  which  they  em- 
body, and  their  introduction  into  nursery  and 
kindergarten  may  contribute  towards  the 
highest  aim  of  all  educational  efforts,  the 
building  of  a  rational  and  ethical  character. 


'HE  following  pages  contain  advertisements  of  a  few 
of  the  Macmillan  publications  on  education,  etc. 


A  LIST  OF  BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS 

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ADAMS.  John.    Exposition  and  Illustration  in  Teaching. 

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ARMSTRONG,  Henrt  E.  The  Teaching  of  Scientific  Method 
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ARNOLD,  Felix.  A  Text'book  of  School  and  Class  Manage- 
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BAGLEY,  William  Chandler.  Classroom  Management;  Its  Prin* 
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Craftsmanship  in  Teaching.  CZofA.  x->rU70  pages.    $1.10net. 

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BROWN,  John  Franklin.  The  American  High  School.  By  John 
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BUTLER,  Nicholas  Murray.  The  Meaning  of  education,  and 
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CHUBB.  Percival.  The  Teaching  of  English.  By  Percival  Chubb. 
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COLLAR,  George,  and  CROOK,  Charles  W.  School  Managentent 
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CRONSON,  Bernard.    Methods  in  Elementary  School  Studies. 

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DE  GARMO.  Charles.  Interest  and  education.  By  Charles  De 
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DEXTER.  Edwin  Grant.  A  History  of  Education  in  the  United 
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FITCH,  Sir  Joshua.  Educational  Aims  and  Methods.  Lectures 
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GANONG,  William  F.  The  Teaching  Botanist.  By  William  F. 
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GILMAN,  MaryL.    Seat  Work  and  Industrial  Occupations.    A 

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A  LIST  OF  BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS— Continaed 


HORNE.  Hkrmav  Harrell.      The  Fsychologlcal  Principles  of 
Education.  12mo.    xiii+U35 pages.    $1.75  net. 
Idealism  in  Education. 

Cloth.    ISTtio.    xxi+18S  pages.    $1.25  net, 
HUEY,  Edmond  B.    The  Paychology  and  Fedasogy  of  Reading. 
By  Professor  Edmund  B.  Huey,  of  the  Western  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania. Cloth.    IStno.    xvi+U69  pages.    $1.1,0  net. 
JONES,  Olive  M.,  LEARY,  Eleanor  G..  and  QUISH,  Agnes  E.  Teaching 
Children  to  Study.    The  Group  system  applied. 

Illustrated.    Cloth.    JSmo.    viii+ 193  pages.    $.80  net, 
KILPATRICK.  VanEvrie.    Departmental  Teaching  in  Elemen- 
tary Schools.  Cloth.    IZmo.    xiii-\- 130 pages.    $.00  net, 
KIRKPATRICK,  Edwin  A.     Fundamentals  of  Child  Study.      By 
Professor  Edwin  A.  Kirkpatrick,  Principal  of  State  Normal  School, 
Fitchburg,  Mass.                      Cloth.    12mo.    xxi+S8k  pages.    $1.25  net. 

Genetic  Psychology.  Cloth.  xv+S7S pages.    $1.25  net. 

LAURIE,  S.  S.    Institutes  of  Education. 

Sded.    Cloth,    xii+S91  pages.    $1.90  net. 
MAJOR,  David  R.     First  Steps  in  Mental  Growth.     A  Series  of 
Studies  in  the  Psychology  of  Infancy.    By  David  R.  Major,  Professor 
of  Education  in  the  Ohio  State  University. 

Cloth.    12)110.    xiv+S60  pages.    $1.25  net. 

THE  McMURRY  SERIES 

Each,  cloth,  12mo. 
Central  Method 

The  Elements  of  General  Method.  By  Charles  A.  McMurry. 

S23  pages.    $.90  net. 
The  Method  of  the  Recitation.    By  Charles  A.  McMurry  and 
Frank  M.  McMurry,  Professor  of  the  Theory  and  Practice  of  Teach- 
ing, Teachers  College,  Columbia  University. 

xi+S29  pages.    $.90  net. 
Special  Method.    By  Charles  A.  McMurry. 

Special  Method  in  Primary  Reading  and  Oral  WorK 
w^ith  Stories.  vii+103 pages.    $.60  net. 

Special  Method  in  the  Reading  of  English  Classics. 

vi +20h  pages.    $.75  net. 
Special  Method  in  Language  in  the  Eight  Grades. 

viii+192  pages.    $.70  net. 
Special  Method  in  History.  vii+291  pages.    $.75  net- 

Special  Method  in  Arithoaetic.  vii+2S5 pages.    $.70net. 

Special  Method  in  Geography.  xi+217pages.    $.70net. 

Special  Method  in  Elementary  Science. 

ix+275  pages.    $.75  net. 
Nature  Study  Lessons  for  Primary  Grades.   By  Mrs.  Lida 
B.  McMurry,  with  an  introduction  by  Charles  A.  Murry. 

xi+191  pages.    $.60  net. 
Course  of  Studs  in  the  Eight  Grades 

Vol.1.    Orades  I  to  IV.       vii+2S6  pages.    $.75  net. 
Vol.  II.    Grades  V  to  VIII.    v+226  pages.    $.75  net. 
MONROE,  Paul.    A  Brief  Course  in  the  History  of  Education. 
By  Paul  Monroe,  Ph.D.,  Professor  in  the  History  of  Education,  Teach- 
ers College,  Columbia  University. 

Cloth.   8vo.    xviii-¥li09  pages.    tlJSBnet, 


A  LIST  OF  BOOKS  FOR  TEACHERS— Continotd 


MONROE.  Pacl.    A  Tezt'Book  in  the  History  of  Education. 

Cloth,     aexiii+277  pages.    12mo.    $1.90  net. 

A  Source  Book  of  the  History  of  Education.    For  the 

Greek  and  Roman  Period.         Cloth,    xiii+515 pages.    8vo.    $2. 25  net. 

O'SHEA,  M.  V.  Dynamic  Factors  In  Education.   By  M.  V.  O'Shea, 

Professor  of  the  Science  and  Art  of  Education,  University  of  Wisconsin. 

Cloth.    12mo.    xiii+S20  pages.    $1.25  net. 


Linguistic  Development  and  Education. 

Cloth.    ISmo.    xvii+SUT  pages.    $1.25  net. 

PARK,  Joseph  C.  Educational  Woodv«rorking  for  Home  and 
School.  By  Joseph  C.  Park,  State  Normal  and  Training  School, 
Oswego,  N.  Y.   Cloth.    12mo.    xiii+210  pages,   illustrated.    $1.00  net. 

PERRY,  Arthur  C.     The  Management  of  a  City  School.     By 

Arthur  C.  Perry,  Jr.,  Ph.D.,  Principal  of  Public  School  No.  85,  Brooklyn. 
N.  Y.  Cloth.    12mo.    viii+S50  pages.    $1.25  net. 

ROWE,  Stdart  H.    The  Physical  Nature  of  the  Child.    By  Dr. 

Stuart  H.  Rowe,  Professor  of  Psychology  and  the  History  of  Edu- 
cation, Training  School  for  Teachers,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

Cloth.    12mo.    vi+211  pages.    $.90  net. 
ROYCE,  JosiAH.    Outlines  of  Psychology.    An  Elementary  Treatise 
with  Some  Practical  Applications.    By  Josiah  Royce,  Professor  of  the 
History  of  Philosophy  in  Harvard  University. 

Cloth.    12mo.    xxvii+S92  pages.    $1.90  net. 
SHAW,  Edward  R.    School  Hygiene.    By  the  late  Edward  R.  Shaw. 

Cloth.    vii-+255  pages.    12mo.    $1.00  net. 
SHURTER.  Edwin  DuBois.     The   Rhetoric  of   Oratory.     By  the 
Associate  Professor  of  Public  Speaking  in  the  University  of  Texas. 

Cloth.    323  pages.    12mo.    tl.lOnet. 

SINCLAIR.  S.  B.,  and  TRACY,  F.  Introductory  Educational  Psy- 
cho logy.    A  book  for  Teachers  in  Training. 

Cloth.    180  pages.    $.90  net. 

SMITH,  David  E.    The  Teaching  of  Elementary  Mathematics. 

By  David    E.  Smith,  Professor  of  Mathematics,  Teachers   College. 
Columbia  University.  Cloth.    xv+S12  pages.    12mo.    $1.00  net. 

SNBDDEN  and  ALLEN.  School  Reports  and  School  Efficiency. 

By  David  S.  Snedden,  Ph.D.,  and  William  H.  Allen,  Ph.D.    For  the 
New  York  Committee  on  Physical  Welfare  of  School  Children. 

Cloth.    ISmo.    xi+ 183  pages.    $1.50  net. 
VANDEWALKER,  Nina  C.  The  Kindergarten  in  American  Edu- 
cation. By  Nina  C.  Vandewalker,  Director  of  Kindergarten  Training 
Department,  Milwaukee  State  Normal  School. 

Cloth.    xiii+27U  pages.    Portr.,  index,  12mo.    $1.25  net. 

WARNER,  Francis.  The  Study  of  Children  and  their  School 
Training.    By  Francis  Warner. 

Cloth.    xix+26U  pages.    ISmo.   $1.00  net. 

WINTERBURN  and  BARR.  Methods  in  Teaching.  Being  the 
Stockton  Methods  in  Elementary  Schools.  By  Mrs.  Rosa  V.  Winter- 
burn,  of  Los  Angeles,  and  James  A.  Barr,  Superintendent  of  Schools  at 
Stockton,  Cal.  Cloth.    xii+S55  pages.    ISmo.    $1.25  net. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers   64-66  Fifth  Avenue   New  York 


A  CYCLOPE^DIA  OF  EDUCATION 

Edited  by  PAUL  MONROE,  Ph.D. 

Professor  of  the  History  of  Education,  Teachers  College,  Colum- 
bia Unirersity;  Author  of  "A  Text-Book  in  the  History  of 
Education,"  "Brief  Course  in  the  History  of  Education,"  etc. 


The  need  of  such  'worK  is  evidenced:  By  the  great  mass 
of  varied  educational  literature  showing  an  equal  range  in 
educational  practice  and  theory;  by  the  growing  importance 
of  the  school  as  a  social  institution,  and  the  fuller  recognition 
of  education  as  a  social  process;  and  by  the  great  increase 
in  the  number  of  teachers  and  the  instability  of  tenure  which 
at  the  same  time  marks  the  profession. 

The  men  'w^ho  need  it  are:  All  teachers,  professional  men, 
editors,  ministers,  legislators,  all  public  men  who  deal  with 
large  questions  of  public  welfare  intimately  connected  with 
education — every  one  who  appreciates  the  value  of  a  refer- 
ence work  which  will  give  him  the  outlines  of  any  educational 
problem,  the  suggested  solutions,  the  statistical  information, 
and  in  general  tJ^e  essential  facts  necessary  to  its  compre- 
hension. 

Among  the  departmental  Editors  associated  with  Dr. 
Monroe  are  Dr.  Elmer  E.  Brown,  U.  S.  Commissioner  of  Edu- 
cation, Prof.  E.  F.  Buchner,  of  Johns  Hopkins,  Dr.  Wm. 
H.  Burnham,  Clark  University,  M.  Gabriel  Compayr6,  In- 
spector-General of  Public  Instruction,  Paris,  France,  Prof. 
Wilhelm  Miinch,  of  Berlin  University,  Germany,  Prof.  John 
Dewey,  of  Columbia  University,  Dr.  EUwood  P.  Cubberly, 
Stanford  University,  Cal.,  Prof.  Foster  Watson,  of  the 
University  College  of  Wales,  Dr.  David  Snedden,  Commis- 
sioner of  Education  for  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and 
others. 


Send  for  a  descriptive  circular  and  list  of  con- 
tributors to  Volume  I 


To  be  completed  in  Jive  large  octavo  volumes,  each  $5.00  net 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
Publishers   64-66  Fifth  Avenue   New  York 


A  TEXT-BOOK  IN  THE  HISTORY 
or  EDUCATION 

By  PAUL  MONROE 

Professor  of  the  History  of  Education,  Teachers  College, 

Columbia  University 

Cloth.     Crovm.    8vo.    xxm-\- 773  pages.     $1.90  net. 

The  aim  of  this  book  is  to  emphasize  the  great  typical  educational 
movements  in  thought  and  practice,  and  to  give  the  student  very  definite 
conceptions  of  comparatively  fev?  leaders  rather  than  to  treat  a  multiplicity 
of  more  or  less  unrelated  facts  and  a  multitude  of  men  with  diverse  ideas. 
In  each  general  topic  treated,  enough  material  is  given  to  elucidate  the  main 
characteristics.  The  contributions  of  two  or  three  of  the  most  representa- 
tive men  are  discussed  for  the  same  purpose.  Since  the  restrictions  of  space 
and  the  working  plan  of  the  author  forbid  further  elaboration,  the  text  at 
almost  every  point  is  suggestive  rather  than  exhaustively  conclusive.  A 
selected  bibliography  and  a  series  of  questions  or  suggestive  topics  accom- 
pany each  chapter,  to  assist  the  student  in  further  study.  Chronological 
tables  are  given  in  connection  with  the  more  important  historical  periods, 
so  that  the  student  may  get  a  conspectus  of  the  period  under  consideration, 
and  the  relation  of  the  educational  to  other  aspects  of  historical  develop- 
ment. A  detailed  analysis  of  the  book  aids  in  preserving  a  correct 
perspective  and  the  proper  relationship  between  the  various  topics.  The 
numerous  illustrations  add  a  realistic  touch  to  the  discussion  of  the  more 
practical  aspects  of  the  subject. 

BRIEF  COURSE  IN  THE  HISTORY 
OF  EDUCATION 

By  PAUL  MONROE,  Ph.D. 

Cloth.    ISmo.    ocviii  -\-  409  +  iv  pages.    $1.25  net. 

This  condensation  of  A  Text-Book  in  the  History  of  Education  has  been 
prepared  to  meet  the  demands  of  normal  and  training  schools  and  of  those 
colleges  that  have  not  sufficient  time  at  their  disposal  to  master  the  contents 
of  a  larger  text.  While  the  text  at  every  point  aims  to  be  suggestive  rather 
than  exhaustive,  even  in  this  abbreviated  form  the  volume  contains  more 
material  than  most  other  texts  on  the  subject.  The  methods  of  presentation 
are  the  same  as  in  the  larger  work. 

A  SOURCE  BOOK  OF  THE 
HISTORY  OF  EDUCATION 

FOR  THE  GREEK  AND  ROMAN  PERIOD 

By  PAUL  MONROE 

Cloth.    8vo.     xiii  + 515  pages.    $2.S5  net. 


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Publishers    64-66  Fifth  Avenue    New  York 


